Highest Grossing South African Movies
The increase in film production in South Africa, be it local, co-production or service production, has resulted in a much larger pool of qualified and experienced technical crews who contribute to making this industry such a hub of activity. The list below gives the highest grossing films in South Africa.
1. District 9
Gross R230,054,792,30
In 1982, a large alien spacecraft stops directly above Johannesburg. When investigation teams enter the ship, they discover a population of sick and malnourished extraterrestrials, identified derogatorily as “prawns”. The South African government confines the aliens to District 9, a government camp that is located outside of Johannesburg. Twenty-eight years later, following periodic conflict between the aliens and the locals living near District 9, the government hires private military company Multinational United (MNU) to relocate the aliens to a new internment. Wikus van de Merwe, an Afrikaner bureaucrat, is appointed by Piet Smit, an MNU executive and his father-in-law, to lead the relocation. Meanwhile, three aliens — Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope), his son, and a friend — scavenge pieces of their technology from which they distill a fluid of their native provenance, storing it in a small canister. Wikus confiscates the canister from the shack of Christopher’s friend, but accidentally sprays some of the fluid onto his face. Christopher’s friend is subsequently killed by Koobus Venter, a sadistic soldier. Under the fluid’s influence, Wikus gradually turns into an alien, starting with his left arm, and he is used by MNU to test various alien weapons which only function when handled by aliens. The scientists decide to vivisect Wikus; but he overpowers them and escapes. Smit orders Venter and his men to hunt Wikus down, while a cover story is published that says Wikus is a fugitive infected by an alien STD.
2. Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
Gross R908,198,38
Based on South African President Nelson Mandela’s autobiography of the same name, which chronicles his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years in prison before becoming President and working to rebuild the country’s once segregated society. Idris Elba stars as Nelson Mandela, Naomie Harris stars as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, with Justin Chadwick directing.
3. Blood Diamond
Gross R187,046,370
Blood Diamond is a 2006 American-German political war thriller film co-produced and directed by Edward Zwick, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies across the world.
Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1996–2001, the film depicts a country torn apart by the struggle between government loyalists and insurgent forces.[5] It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels’ amputation of people’s hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections.
4. Invictus
Gross R133,386,598,50
Invictus is a 2009 biographical sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. The story is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation about the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was hosted in that country following the dismantling of apartheid. Freeman and Damon play, respectively, South African President Nelson Mandela and François Pienaar, the captain of the South Africa rugby union team, the Springboks.
5. Tsotsi
Gross R544,310,195
Tsotsi is a 2005 film directed by Gavin Hood and produced by Peter Fudakowski. It is also an adaptation of the novel Tsotsi, by Athol Fugard and a South African/UK co-production. Set in an Alexandra slum, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the film tells the story of Tsotsi, a young street thug who steals a car only to discover a baby in the back seat. The film won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.
6. Sarafina!
Gross R797,286,352
Sarafina! is a 1992 South African film starring Leleti Khumalo, Whoopi Goldberg, Miriam Makeba, John Kani and Tertius Meintjies. The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The character Sarafina (Leleti Khumalo) feels shame at her mother’s (Miriam Makeba) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (Whoopi Goldberg) is imprisoned.
7. Dredd
Gross R146,386,725
Dredd is a 2012 science fiction action film directed by Pete Travis and written and produced by Alex Garland. It is based on the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd and its eponymous character created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. Karl Urban stars as Judge Dredd, a law enforcer given the power of judge, jury and executioner in a vast, dystopic metropolis called Mega-City One that lies in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Dredd and his apprentice partner, Judge Anderson , are forced to bring order to a 200-storey high-rise block of flats and deal with its resident drug.
8. Hotel Rwanda
Gross R256,778,505
Hotel Rwanda is a 2004 American historical drama film directed by Terry George. It was adapted from a screenplay written by both George and Keir Pearson. Based on real life events in Rwanda during the spring of 1994, the film stars Don Cheadle as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, who attempts to rescue his fellow citizens from the ravages of the Rwandan Genocide. Sophie Okonedo and Nick Nolte also appear in principal roles. The film, which has been called an African Schindler’s List, documents Rusesabagina’s acts to save the lives of his family and more than a thousand other refugees, by granting them shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. Hotel Rwanda explores genocide, political corruption, and the repercussions of violence.
