Despite claiming Australia's eighth biggest ever opening day gross on July 13, Fox's X-Men has taken only $2.8m (A$4.76m) from 245 screens after its first week on release. This figure places it at 29 in the chart of the territory's top weekly openings.

The results are surprising considering the film's impressive US outing where it took $54.5m in three days to become the sixth biggest ever weekend opener. But tying the Australian outing to its US release date may have been one of the key problems with its box office tally.

The film's July 13 opening date came only two days before its target audience started back at school or college. Fox could have waited for the September school holidays - traditionally a lucrative period - but this year the holidays are likely to be dominated by the Olympic Games in Sydney.

A film that works in the US usually works in Australia, but if US results are disappointing, not running day and date can give the local office time to position the film differently, change the campaign or pull back on spending.