Captain Phillips tops the Australian box office

Tom Hanks pirate thriller Captain Phillips topped the Australian box office on its opening weekend taking $2,166,434 across 339 screens, according to figures from the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

The Sony distributed feature is based on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in 200 years.

The film managed to unseat Warner Bros pic Gravity which has dominated the local box office takings over the past three weeks. It came in second place and made $1,920,909 across 488 screens. Gravity has now made a total of $15,065,509 at the Australian box office.

Australian films Tim Winton’s The Turning and Mystery Road remain in the box office top 20 with The Turning passing the $1m mark with its total box office takings hitting $1,051,278. It played on 25 screens across the weekend.