‘Hobbit’, ‘Exodus’ Lead XMas Frame; Euro, Korea Pics Boom Locally: FINAL Intl BO Update

FINAL UPDATE, MONDAY 4:49 PM PT: Across the Top 10 major studio releases internationally there’s reason for some holiday cheer. This weekend’s figures are up 19.4% over last frame with The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies leading the pack at $89M, plus strong perfs from Exodus: Gods And Kings in new key markets and the Night At The Museum finale. Still, that result is down from last year, largely due to the impact that Frozen was having on the season with a $50.5M take in the comparable frame. Five Armies in the estimates is also about 9.3% off from Smaug’s performance last year, but there are those nasty currency fluctuations to take into account.

Still, it a big weekend for local titles. Last frame’s Indian release PK added Bollywood flair to the international box office with an offshore haul of $14.3M for a global cume of $61.46M. Meanwhile, China’s highly anticipated Taking Of Tiger Mountain from Tsui Hark made it into Rentrak’s top Top 10 at No. 7 with a weekend take of $25M and a cume — after opening on Wednesday — of $41M. Despite all of the drama that has played out about its neighbor to the North, South Korea continued drawing strong box office, notably with last week’s winner Ode To My Father and new entry The Con Artists as well as a nice milestone for Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Along with those titles, see more below in the key market round-ups about such homegrown films as China’s Love On The Cloud and Gone With The Bullets; France’s La Famille Bélier, Germany’s Honig Im Kopf from hitmaker Til Schweiger, and Russia’s Yolki 1914 which marks a return to the series as director for Timur Bekmambetov.

Next week, the international marketplace will be relatively quiet in terms of New Year’s openers. The Woman In Black 2: Angel Of Death will haunt the UK – the first film in the franchise went on to become the biggest British horror title of all time — A Most Violent Year will bow in France, and Liam Neeson returns in Taken 3 which lands in Hong Kong. Expanding are such films as Exodus, Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb, Into The Woods, Seventh Son and The Gambler.

See below the original post for key market round-ups.

PREVIOUS, SUNDAY, 12:53 PM PT: HIGHLIGHTS: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (WB) reaches $405.1M cume overseas; Exodus: Gods And Kings (FOX) flexes $30.9M muscle; Night At The Museum 3 (FOX) sets Ben Stiller record in Mexico; Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner (UNI) is biggest Oz bow for a local film in 2014; Into The Woods (DIS) & Unbroken (UNI) tie at $2.7M; Paddington (SC) enters Top 10 2014 UK box office chart; Aamir Khan still drawing in PK; More…

Below are studio reported figures on the major titles playing overseas this weekend. Five Armies won the box office battle among Hollywood pics in the frame while some local records were set amongst other titles. New entries The Water Diviner, Into The Woods and Unbroken planted flags in just a few markets with many holdovers finding increased figures during this holiday session. See below for initial studio reported numbers and I’ll update with lots about local movies a bit later on.

NEW
Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner debuted through Universal in Australia and New Zealand this weekend and grossed $3M at 334 dates. In Oz, the epic historical drama was No. 4 with $2.9M at 252 dates. Although it didn’t best The Hobbit in its arrival in the market, it is the biggest opening for an Australian film this year. It will now play as the key adult drama going into the Down Under summer. In Crowe’s native New Zealand, The Water Diviner was also No. 4 with $173K at 82 dates. Universal will release in 11 further markets next year.

Disney’s Into The Woods was propelled to a $46.11M four-day opening weekend in North America. Overseas, where the property, based on the Stephen Sondheim musical, is perhaps less well-known east of London’s West End, the film bowed in Korea and Russia, along with some smaller markets. Those two fast-burn hotspots are key for high-profile titles and were worth $2.7M this frame. That’s 9% of the movie’s international footprint and unsurprisingly Korea, where audiences appreciate fantasy, spectacle and emotion, was the biggest of the offshore openings with $1.9M, followed by Russia with $600K. In a staggered release over the next months, the Rob Marshall-helmed Into The Woods will notably cast a spell in the UK, Spain, France and Brazil in January before leaving a glass slipper in Mexico and Germany in February, followed by Japan in March and Italy in April.

Angelina Jolie’s directorial effort Unbroken earned $46.2M in North America in its opening while it also bowed in Spain and the UK/Ireland to an estimated $2.6M at 754 dates. Debuting on Christmas Day in Spain, the story of the indomitable Louis Zamperini opened at No. 4 with a gross of $1.6M at 317 dates over the weekend. The UK/Ireland was worth $1M after opening on the Boxing Day holiday Fridaywhich also saw the arrivals of Exodus: Gods And Kings, Annie and Big Eyes. The Universal release was No. 7 in the market. It rolls out overseas over the next few months. Next weekend, Unbroken brings its spirit to nine territories including Korea, Egypt, the UAE and other Middle East countries.

HOLDOVERS
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies marched out to an $89M weekend internationally with about 11.6M admissions on 16,700screens in 62 markets. The film has now passed $400M overseas with a cume of $405.1M. The worldwide spoils are now $573.6M. After previously bowing in New Zealand, Five Armies stormed Australia this frame with a Friday-Sunday gross of $9.9M with over 1M admissions from 605 screens. That’s the biggest 3-day opening of the franchise by a wide margin (HAUJ opened on a Wednesdayand HDOS on a Thursday). Poland also opened to a very strong No. 1 with $5.6M from 843K admissions on 699 screens, including previews.

In holdovers, Bilbo and the gang continue to dominate Germany’s box office with $11.65M in its 3rd weekend. At $56.1M, Five Armies is the biggest movie of the year in the market. France’s 3rd session added $6.5M with 693K admissions on 884 screens. It ranked No. 2 behind local comedy The Bélier Family and now has a cume of $35.5M putting it firmly in the Top 10 of the year. In Five Armies’ 3rd trip through the UK turnstiles, it turned up a No. 1 slot for the 3rd straight week, grossing $6.6M from 614K admissions at 1,126 screens. Korea’s 2nd weekend was worth $5.5M for a cume of $18.3M; Italy added $5.1M for a $13.1M cume; and Scandinavia continues to over-perform ranking No. 1 in Finland, Norway and Denmark, with a regional total to date of $32.15M. Other market cumes include: Spain ($13.2M), Mexico $14.0M, Russia $25.2M, Brazil ($16.1M), and Japan ($7.9M).

Off muscular bows in Brazil, France, the UK and Germany, Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods And Kings earned $30.9M on 6,777 screens in 39 markets this holiday frame. Although the film won’t be getting released in some Middle Eastern markets, the international cume is a burning bush away from the $100M mark with $97.1M. Brazil opened at No. 1 and earned $6.7M from 901 dates this session giving Fox its second biggest opening ever in the market. In France, it was No. 3 behind local heartwarmer The Bélier Family and The Hobbit with $5.4M from 587; the UK was No. 2 behind Hobbit with $4.08M from 776; and Germany was No. 3 behind Hobbit and Til Schweiger’s Warner drama Honig In Kopf with $3.57M at 597. Among other markets, Mexico was up 8% in its fourth frame for a cume of $11.25M; Spain was also up 11% in its fourth outing with a $9.78M cume and Holland was up 28% for a $1.67M cume. Russia sees the Red Sea part next weekend.

Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb dug up $31.2M from 6,583 screens in 40 markets in its second international session. The 10-day offshore cume is $49.6M with 15+ markets yet to release, including 11 big ones. Mexico had an opening fit for a pharaoh with $5.86M from 2,061 screens. That’s Ben Stiller’s biggest ever bow in the market and 183% above NATM2 and 239% above NATM1. Malaysia, at $3.12M on 352 screens is Fox’s biggest opener ever in the market, and Singapore ($2M from 66) is the fourth highest opening weekend ever for a Fox film. Other debuts include Australia ($2.77M from 269), Taiwan ($1.67M from 150) and Thailand ($961K from 190). In holdovers, the UK cume is $8.5M after two frames; Germany is $4.74M; Hong Kong is $4.4M (and was up 7% this frame); and Central America is $1.33M with a 1% drop this go-round.

Disney’s Big Hero 6 bounded into Australia, Brazil and a handful of other markets in time for the holidays with a fantastic $24.7M weekend in 51 territories. The international cume is now $120.9M after 10 weeks in release with a total global box office of $320.83M. Bowing on Christmas Day in Australia, Big Hero 6 was No. 2 behind The Hobbit’s first frame there with $3.2M. The opening is 18% behind Frozen’s debut weekend and 19% ahead of Wreck-It Ralph. Brazil took in $2.8M for the weekend ($4.5M cume including previews), which Disney says is around the same level as Tangled. Elsewhere in Latin America, Big Hero 6 opened above Frozen in both Colombia and Peru.

Russia remains the top offshore play for Big Hero 6 but Japan is gaining quickly with $17.2M. The film opened there last frame and numbers keep inflating — in the good sense — for the animated story that’s set in San Fransokyo and is titled Baymax locally. This frame was off a slight 20% from the opening weekend. Also among the top markets are Mexico with $16.4M, followed by Malaysia with $6M and recent opener Italy with $5.8M. In Italy, BH6 bested its opening weekend by 149% with $3.7M this frame. Spain was also up in week two with $2.1M and a jump of 24%. The film has yet to hit Korea, Germany, the UK and France, all of which land in late January and February. China is prepped for a March 1 release.

The Penguins Of Madagascar are still on a mission with a further $16.1M from 7,201 screens in 43 markets. The international cume on the Fox release has been lifted to $160.6M. Mexico’s $4.57M frame from 1,895 screens was an 11% drop from last session and brings the cume to $11.44M; France was up 9% from its opening with $3.26M from 727; and with the kiddies out of school, Holland was also up — 132% — for a $2.4M cume to date. Belgium and Denmark also saw increases of 42% and 37%, respectively. There were solid openings in Scandinavia, led by Norway ($821K from 200), Sweden ($784K from 230) and Finland ($524K from 188). DreamWorks Animation’s Penguins will soak up some Australian summer sun next weekend.

Bollywood comedy/drama PK was far from alienated this weekend, taking in a further $14.3M internationally, inlcuding $11.8M at home where the cume is now an estimated $51.6M. The UTV release of the Aamir Khan-starrer took in $2.45M in other markets, plus $1.75M in North America. The worldwide total on the Rajkumar Hirani-helmed pic is $69.4M. It’s the story of an alien who lands in the Rajasthan desert with a mission to study life on Earth. When the device that allows him to communicate with his spaceship is stolen, he sets out to find it while attempting to blend in.

Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 now has a worldwide cume of about $670M with the domestic gross crossing $300M this frame. Internationally, the penultimate film in the series added an estimated $7.9M from 80 markets over the Christmas holiday. The offshore cume is $363M still led by the UK with $47.3M, followed by Germany ($37.2M), Australia ($27.2M), France ($24.9M) and Mexico ($23.4M). Looking at the numbers as they stand, it remains to be seen if Mockingjay can catch Catching Fire overseas. That film’s gross was $440M internationally and Mockingjay still has China and Japan to go. The previous installment earned $28M in China and $1.75M in Japan.

Sony’s Annie update grossed an estimated $5.9M on 1,250 screens in 21 territories this weekend, bringing the overseas cume to $8.2M. SPRI’s total is $5.6M and Village Roadshow’s total is $2.6M. New openings this frame included the UK with a pretty solid $3.6M, including previews, from 380 screens. Sony says that was good for the No. 3 slot but Studiocanal is reporting $4M on Paddington which would push it into the show spot. We’ll see how it shakes out in the actualstomorrow. Elsewhere, Belgium launched with $310K from 117, and as was the case with many films in the Netherlands this frame, Annie lifted in its 2nd outing — by 125% — taking $345K for a $720K total. Village Roadshow added $760K in its markets.

Gone Girl had a resurgence this weekend, surfacing with increased numbers in both Italy and Venezuela. Fox’s David Fincher film added $4.25M from 818 screens in six markets for a $191M cume. In Italy, Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck added $3.35M from 399 for a jump of 188% from last weekend’s opening. Venezuela was up 12% in its 3rd frame for a $728K cume and Japan dropped 31% for a $5.8M cume.

Paddington is showing some furry legs at the UK box office with a 3rd place finish this weekend behind Battle Of The Five Armies and Exodus which just opened there, although Studiocanal tells me the polite little bear is sandwiched right behind Ramses’ chariot. The Paul King-directed Paddington had an estimated $4M weekend for a local cume of $37.2M bumping the film into the Top 10 grossers at the 2014 UK box office and, along with The Inbetweeners 2, one of only two local pics in the
mix.

Dumb And Dumber To added an estimated $1.7M at 549 dates in five Universal markets this frame. The studio’s total is now $15M. Universal has two more territories to release: Australia and New Zealand on January 8.

James Marsh’s The Theory Of Everything configured $1.5M at 385 dates in eight territories this weekend. The international total is now $4.5M on the Universal release. Five markets were added this frame including Germany where it grossed $902K at 252 dates for the fourth best per-screen average in the market that’s dominated by The Hobbit and several local titles. Austria ($156K/43 dates), German-speaking Switzerland ($148K/ 22 dates) and Israel ($112K/19 dates) also opened with Uruguay($10K/ 8 dates). The Stephen Hawking biopic takes its smarts to the UK/ Ireland on January 2.

Universal’s fantasy title Seventh Son conjured $1.2M at 420 dates in 10 territories this weekend and raised the early total to $2.7M. The film opened in Cyprus, Estonia, French-speaking Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia this frame. A notable holdover, France was worth $740K at 300 dates for a 12-day total of $2.2M. The Kit Harrington-starrer hits 14 more territories next weekend including Russia and Spain.

Studiocanal’s The Imitation Game is in its 7th UK frame with an estimated $400K and a total of $21.17M which puts it very close to the company’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. This weekend’s £935 per-screen average was just a tick off of Unbroken’s £953 in its start.

KEY MARKET ROUND-UPS

ASIA

Jiang Wen’s Gone With The Bullets has faltered at China‘s box office, having cumed $61.5M since its release on December 18, per Rentrak. That’s far below the $117.5M local take its predecessor, Let The Bullets Fly ultimately earned. It also means the movie doesn’t have a shot at hitting the hoped for 2B yuan which would have pushed it past Transformers: Age Of Extinction as the biggest Chinese box office hit of all time. With new entries coming in and a screen drop to just 15.4% of all available space, the film’s disappointing performance will contribute to the likelihood that the Middle Kingdom will not hit its 30B yuan box office target for 2014, China.org reported. Also underperforming earlier this month was John Woo’s The Crossing. Tsui Hark’s December 24 entry The Taking Of Tiger Mountain did prove something of a salve, entering the Rentrak worldwide chart at No. 7 with a $25M weekend and a $41M cume. Still, another local title, Fleet Of Time, has performed well, and new entry, Love On The Cloud, by Gu Changwei, started its career in China this week with a $10M cume for the weekend and a total $19.5M in four markets.

In Korea, local title Ode To My Father rode out the weekend for the top spot again with $14M this frame and a $25M cume. Action heist pic The Con Artists entered the international charts at No. 17 with $7.7M. Directed by Kim Hong-Sun, it follows a trio of safe-crackers, counterfeiters and hackers who attempt to steal valuable diamonds held within a secret vault at a a high-end jewelry store. The store is owned by President Jo who himself is looking for an elite safe-cracker to help him steal millions of dollars stored within a Korean customs area in Incheon. Hit documentary My Love, Don’t Cross That River was in third place this weekend, tying The Hobbit, with $5.5M for a spectacular $18.5M take thus far. It is now the most successful Korean independent film of all time after crossing the 3M admissions mark on Christmas Day. And, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar passed the 10M admissions mark there after nine weeks of release. That makes it the third film to do so this year and only the third non-Korean movie to do so since records began.

EUROPE

Russia’s Yolki 1914 directed by Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Wanted’s Timur Bekmambetov, along with Yuriy Bykov, Aleksandr Karpilovskiy, Dmitriy Kiselev, and Aleksandr Kott, was the top opener at the local box office this weekend. This is the latest installment of Bekmambetov’s comedy franchise that has become a tradition at the New Year. Back in 2010, he jointly helmed the first one, Six Degrees Of Celebration, just after his local breakouts Night Watch and Day Watch. This one is a prequel, and while we don’t have exact figures for its debut, we do know it opened over The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies. Last year’s Yolki 3, which Bekmambetov produced but did not direct, ended its run locally at about $38M, the second biggest Russian movie after 2014 breakout Stalingrad.

Meanwhile, in Germany, jack-of-all-trades Til Schweiger had the biggest opening of a German film this year with Honig Im Kopf. The star, writer, director and producer is back after a role in Muppets Most Wanted and his big 2013 local hit Kokowaah 2, with the story of a girl who kidnaps her Alzheimer’s suffering grandfather on a trip to Venice. Warner Bros is releasing locally.

France’s La Famille Bélier has now cumed an estimated $15M at home and in some Latin American markets. The heartwarming story of a deaf family with a hearing and singing daughter was No. 1 again this week in the hexagon, beating out The Hobbit and the arrival of Moses in Exodus: Gods And Kings. Eric Lartigau directs the title that’s handled by SND and which rounds out a terrific year for local films at the French box office. But still to come on December 31, France could see yet another homegrown hit if Une Heure De Tranquillité shakes things up. Starring box office favorite Christian Clavier (Les Visiteurs, Asterix, Qu’est-ce Qu’On A Fait Au Bon Dieu?!), it marks a return to comedy for director Patrice Leconte after a stumble with 2013’s English-language drama A Promise. His Les Bronzés franchise is among the winningest in French history and Clavier was in the last film in the series in 2006.

INDIA

Bollywood title PK has now become the top-grossing foreign-language film of 2014 at the North American box office. It is also on its way to make history at home. The UTV release has an estimated cume in India of $51.6M and an overseas total of $17.8M (including North America). If the $51.6M cume at home holds after actuals are reported, and not taking currency fluctuations into account, that would catapult PK to the status of biggest Bollywood movie of all time at 327.6 crore — well beyond Dhoom 3‘s 284.27 crore, which at today’s exchange rate would equal $44.8M. Dhoom 3 also starred Aamir Khan and the estimated figures would make it the first time a Bollywood movie passes the 300 crore benchmark.

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