Whitney Houston Biopic ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ #4 at the Australian Box Office

January 4, 2023

The Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody has come in at number four on the Australian box office rankings after the holiday weekend, lagging behind Avatar and a couple of other family-friendly animations. According to MediaWeek, the film raked in over $1.2 million at the box office across 329 theatres throughout Australia last week.

The film, starring British actor Naomi Ackie in the title role and Stanley Tucci as record exec and producer Clive Davis, has been garnering lukewarm reviews since its Boxing Day release in Australia.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody Official Trailer

Unsurprisingly, Avatar: The Way of Water came in at the #1 spot, taking in more than $10 million. It’s a long way in front of the next films: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish brought in $2.1 million, while the Shawn Mendes-starring Lyle, Lyle Crocodile piled up $1.5 million.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody charts the rise and tragic fall of Houston, who was discovered and signed by Davis in 1983 and would go on to become a global superstar and one of the best-selling female artists of all time. She died in The Beverly Hilton hotel in 2012 – a coroner determined her cause of death was drowning and the effects of heart disease and cocaine use.

The new release is the third film released about the singer since her death, following two documentaries: Nick Broomfield’s Whitney: Can I Be Me? in 2017 and Kevin Macdonald’s Whitney in 2018.

Directed by Kasi Lemmons and with a screenplay written by Anthony McCarten – who was responsible for the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody – I Wanna Dance With Somebody has been praised for the performance of Ackie in the lead role, but largely criticised for skating around the difficult questions of Houston’s life and death.