Update: Intl Box Office: ‘Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Awakens To $31.3M Overseas; ‘Transformers’ Adds $100M+ To Crash Past $500M Barrier
UPDATE, Monday 5:30 PM: Updates are in from Fox and Universal which had the films everyone wanted to know about in the domestic marketplace this weekend as well — Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and the indie favorite Boyhood. Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures’ Transformers: Age of Extinction took in a little less than the $102M estimate, but nonetheless grossed $100.3M from 12 markets, according to the studio, to sail past the $500M market in just three weeks of release. The international cume is now $540.6M. Added with the domestic gross and the go-bots are hitting on all cylinders with $713.4M worldwide.
All other numbers are updated below for those two films as well as for X-Men: Days of Future Past, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Other Woman, Neighbors, A Million Ways to Die in the West, and The Fault in Our Stars and newcomer Rico, Oskar Und Die Tieferschatten. Just received Warner Bros. and Disney final international grosses so more updates below on Tammy, Jersey Boys, Maleficent, Edge of Tomorrow, Blended, and Godzilla. Sony has come in at 3 PM with its numbers for 22 Jump Street, Deliver Us From Evil, Heaven is For Real and Think Like a Man Too.
UPDATE, Sunday 2:10 PM PT: With the World Cup winding down tonight, next week will see Transformers: Age Of Extinction and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes expand significantly to key markets where attention has been largely focused on football in the past month. In the meantime, the Top 10 studio titles this frame were down 1% on last weekend and 10% versus the same frame in 2013. Playing atop the international box office last year was Despicable Me 2 with an added $55.5M in its 4th frame. Pacific Rim debuted internationally with $53M and Monsters University was in its 4th frame with $30M. Next week sees the bow of Planes: Fire & Rescue in about 20 markets including Japan, Brazil, Mexico and Spain. It’s interesting that this sequel is heading to Japan in its first wave of markets since many films take their time to bow there. But Japan was among the Top Three overseas territories for the original Planes last year with $10.9M. Its Top Two markets were the UK ($14M) and France ($13.8M). Also due next week on the international scene is Sex Tape. The comedy bows in Australia and New Zealand. Star Cameron Diaz’s The Other Woman has had a strong run Down Under with the movie topping $110M internationally this week. In China, Tiny Times III bows July 17. The original film earned $77.6M at home last year, and its sequel, also released in 2013, grossed $47.2M. The films are written and directed by Guo Jingming and based on his own coming-of-age novel.
This week, China has several new local pics in the mix of the Top 20 international titles including microfilm transfer Old Boys: The Way Of The Dragon which debuted with $12.4M. Comedy The Break Up Guru continues to feature in the Top 10 with an added $11M this frame. (See more on other new films in the territory round-ups below.) In Korea, The Divine Move added $6M this frame for a $19M cume. The big Korea debut was Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes with $11.5M on 910 screens. The fast-burn market will see it continue to play relatively unencumbered until July 23 when local title Kundo: Age Of The Rampant is expected to open strongly. Set in the 19th century, that Robin Hood-esque tale is about a band of thieves who steal from corrupt officials and gives the spoils to the poor. In other local titles, Les Vacances Du Petit Nicolas opened in France with $4.5M and the No. 1 spot there. The sequel from Laurent Tirard follows 2009’s family comedy Le Petit Nicolas which ultimately earned $50M at home.
See below the original post for more in the key territory round-ups.
PREVIOUS, 10:50 AM PT: In what was expected to be a somewhat transitional weekend overseas – especially in Europe and Latin America as the World Cup winds down tonight – the big pictures still playing include Transformers: Age Of Extinction, How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Maleficent. Breaking into the international market for the first time was domestic box office champ Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. In line for $72.6M in the States, Dawn rose in 26 markets overseas with $31.3M from 4,913 screens. There were confirmed No. 1 bows in 14 of those, and truly significant increases on Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (over +100% in many cases). The major markets to bow Matt Reeves’ well-reviewed sequel were Korea and Australia with the rest of the world rolling out over the next few weeks. Korea, where Fox changed its release date a week ahead of schedule, was worth $11.5M from 910 locations. That was the 3rd highest opening weekend ever for a Fox title and was 105% bigger than Rise. In Oz, the Apes earned $6.6M at 467 locations. Other openings included India ($1.94M from 850), Malaysia ($1.9M from 400), Thailand ($1.59M from 303), Singapore ($1.3M from 79), and the Philippines ($1.29M from 226). I’ll have more about individual openings in the territory round-ups later on. Next weekend, 29 more markets will see the Dawn including Argentina, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, and the UK.
Transformers: Age Of Extinction added a handful of European and Latin American territories this weekend and, spurred on by strong results in the UK and Mexico, raised $100.3M for the frame. That was above last weekend’s $96.6M and helped propel the movie past the $500M mark internationally to $543.5M. Last week, the action-fest surpassed Avatar as the highest-grossing movie ever in China with 1,396M yuan. This weekend, it added another $24.1M (the Sunday estimate was $25M) at 4,400 locations for a new cume of $261.7M.
In the UK, Optimus Prime & Co scored the biggest opening of 2014 and of the Transformers franchise. With $20.1M including six days of previews, the film played at 1,323 locations. In Mexico, TAOE was also the biggest bow for the franchise at $15.8M from 649 locations and the studio noted that it is the biggest of the franchise and mirrors the three-day Transformers: Dark of the Moon weekend. Colombia tallied the biggest opening weekend of 2014 with $5M including previews from 147 locations and marks the biggest four-day of the franchise. And, despite the World Cup final with Germany, fans in Argentina lined up at the box office to give TAOE the biggest live-action release of all time with $2.8M from 140 locations. That was more than 2x Dark Of The Moon. Other opening markets included The Netherlands which opened to an excellent $2.3M from 124 locations, also a franchise best result, according to Par.
Holdover markets include Korea with $3.9M at 558 locations, but Fox’s Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes was No. 1 in that territory after bowing on Thursday. The total cume in Korea for Transformers is now $39.4M. The release of DOTPOTA was backed up from July 17 to July 10 shortly after TAOE opened. With local pic Kundo: Age Of The Rampant expected to debut big on July 23, and with TAOE slightly underperforming here, it looks like Fox was angling to get as much play time as possible for the Apes in this fast-burn market. TAOE now has $39.3M locally.
Speaking of fast-burn markets, TAOE has had some staying power in Russia. It’s No. 1 for the 3rd consecutive week with $2.5M at 1,059 locations. The hat trick of No. 1s makes TAOE the first film to achieve such a milestone this year. Its cume to date is $41.6M. In Australia, TAOE earned $2.5M on its 3rd weekend, off 8% from DOTM and helping push a cume of $22.1M. It’s No. 3 in the market behind Apes and How to Train Your Dragon 2 in it’s 4th week.
With the World Cup over, TAOE will storm into more European and Latin American markets next weekend including France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Brazil.
Fox and DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon 2 continues to soar overseas with an extra $35M this weekend from 8,286 screens in 66 markets. The international cume is now $199M. HTTYD2 finally swooped into the UK with $16.1M from 1,060 dates. In holdovers, the movie showed legs in France with $4.8M from 768 locations and falling in line behind local opener Les Vacances Du Petit Nicolas. Australia was worth $2.5M from 525 screens and New Zealand rose 56.5% to $780K from 166. In Brazil, where World Cup dreams faded for the home side last week, HTTYD2 added $1.68M from 789 screens. The next opening is in Germany on July 24. The worldwide cume is now $351.5M.
Maleficent’s international tally after this weekend is $448.2M, and its global total is $668.9M. The Disney pic added $14.6M this frame in 45 markets. In Japan, where it dethroned Frozen as the No. 1 movie last weekend, it maintained its position with a 25% drop. The cume there after two weeks is $19.1M.
The juggernaut that is The Fault In Our Stars is still shining brightly as counterprogramming. The Fox tearjerker with Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort earned $7.55M from 4,105 screens in 56 markets this frame and saw Brazil add $1.3M from 498 runs. It dropped only 26% from last weekend and now has a cume of $27.2M. Germany is up 16% from last weekend – despite the entire country also being glued to the World Cup – with $859K from 728. Holland opened to $795K on 66 screens, good for the No. 2 slot. (No word yet if the stolen Amsterdam canal bench that features in the pic has been replaced.)
A recent article at TheAtlantic.com paints a pretty grim picture of the state of comedy at today’s worldwide box office, saying, “the emerging world enthusiasm for Hollywood films does not extend to comedies, or at least not relative to its love of action movies and animated films.”
It’s certainly true that the big markets everyone has their eyes on today – China, Russia, Korea, Brazil, etc. – show a predilection for action. But there have been a handful of breakout comedies at the overseas box office this summer. Those include Sony‘s 22 Jump Street which had a fantastic opening in Russia last week. This week the Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum starrer added an estimated $6.1M from 37 territories. The overseas cume for the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller-directed laffer is now $81.5M, far outpacing the $63.55M the original film made in 2012. The movie traveled to Portugal ($131K on 42 screens) and Czech Republic ($100K) this weekend on 41 runs to boast 40% better than the opening of Neighbors. In holdovers, Russia fell 57% taking $1.8M for a cume of $7.8M; Australia grossed $1.6M for a cume of $18.8M; the UK grossed an estimated $730K for $29.6M total – almost double the first movie’s takings. It opens next in Italy on July 23, Germany on July 31 and Spain, Brazil, France and Mexico in the next 80 days or so. The worldwide is $253.2M.
Warner Bros’ Tom Cruise-starrer Edge Of Tomorrow did repeat business of an estimated $3.96M this weekend (slightly higher than the original estimate), with about 349K admissions from roughly 2,390 screens in 57 markets. The international cume to date is now $255.65M. In its 2nd frame in Japan, the movie took a final $1.8M from 633 screens and ranked No. 2 behind Maleficent with a total to date of $8.6M. Its top markets are China ($63.6M), Korea ($37.8M) and Russia $21.1M. The worldwide cume is $350.1M.
Another comedy that’s performing overseas (despite a pretty rotten run at home) is Warner Bros’ Blended. The Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore vehicle is running about neck and neck at home and abroad with an international cume of $49.5M vs the domestic haul of $44.7M as of Thursday. It grossed $4.4M over the weekend with 767K admissions on 2,500 screens in 51 markets, better than yesterday’s estimate. Its top market is Mexico ($8.4M), followed by Russia ($5.6M) and Australia ($4.2M). The next market for its release is Brazil on July 17th where the locales love their romancers. Its worldwide cume is now $94.2M.
Heaven is For Real from Sony captured $623K on 393 screens in 18 markets. It’s overseas cume is now $6.5M.
Fox’s Rio 2 added $2.7M from 1,185 screens in 26 markets. Most of it was from Australia which grossed $2.3M from 513 screens – a 5% increase from last weekend. The international cume is now $360M. Its’ worldwide cume is now $489.7M.
X-Men: Days Of Future Past has become the 7th title in Fox history to cross the $500M mark internationally. It added $2.5M from 1,846 screens in 42 markets this frame to boost the cume to $504.3M. In Venezuela, which was the movie’s final territory to bow, it added $595K from 106 runs and has had the top market share position for four consecutive weekends. Its worldwide cume now sits at $733.5M.
Think Like a Man Too, the comedy that stars comedian Kevin Hart, brought in $272K on 124 screens in 17 markets to bring its overseas cume to $2.1M.
Universal‘s A Million Ways To Die In The West continued its rollout with an estimated $2.5M at 1,904 dates in 34 territories for an international total of $39.3M. Russia placed No. 7 in its bow with an estimated $801K at 533 dates. Uni noted that the Russian market was slow due to the summer weather and the World Cup and suffered one of the lowest-grossing weekends of the year in the country. The film also opened in Belgium, Thailand and Ukraine to what Uni said was “fair” results. The film has five more territories to open in over the next few months.
Universal’s local comedy transfer, Mrs Brown’s Boys D’ Movie was No. 3 in the UK/Ireland in its third week. The film added $1.8M at 484 dates for a total of $19.9M in 17 days of release. Uni opens the film Down Under on July 24.
Also from Universal, Neighbors has cracked the $250M mark at the worldwide box office. The comedy with Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron originally opened overseas in early May and has been rolling out progressively. The global total is now $251.8M after adding an estimated $1.8M at 1,296 dates in 31 markets this weekend. Among new openings, it debuted at No. 3 in Finland with $89K in 61 runs. The 2nd frame in Mexico held well with a No 4 showing and a cume of $3.8M after grabbing another 840K in 52 dates. There are seven more markets to come. It’s international cume is now $103.2M. The worldwide total is now $400.4M.
Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys sang for about $1.8M in 15 territories this weekend. Its best market continues to be Australia where it added $1.3M this frame from 301 screens for a total cume there of $4M. The UK ($2.4M cume) and France ($1.4M cume) follow as the 2nd and 3rd biggest markets. The cume is now $10M. Mexico is next up for this crooner on July 17, followed by German on July 31.
Horror pic Deliver Us From Evil grossed an estimated $1.3M from 22 territories in its 2nd frame. The overseas cume is $4.7M. Opening this past weekend were Hungary ($57K on 30 runs), Iceland ($18K on 7 screens), Croatia ($15K on 22 screens), Serbia ($10K on 14 screens) and Cambodia ($10K on 10 runs). In its holdover territories of Indonesia, Malaysia, Poland, Singapore and Vietnam, the horror flick from Jerry Bruckheimer, it did respectable numbers against some heavy competition. Specifically, Indonesia dropped only 15% for 345K to bring its cume to 902K; Malaysia dropped 55% to gross $193K to bring its cume to $769K. In Poland, it actually rose 1% to scare in $140K to bring its cume to $412K. Singapore dropped 47% with a $105K gross to bring its total cume to $368K. And finally, Vietnam: down 45% and good for another $104K for final tally of $477K.
From Fox International Productions, German co-pro Rico, Oskar Und Die Tieferschatten earned just over $1M with most of it generated in Germany ($910K). The adaption of Andreas Steinhöfel’s children’s book Rico, Oskar And The Pasta Detectives is directed by Neele Leana Vollmar. It’s one of two youth-skewing pictures on FIP’s German slate this summer. Teenage comedy Doktorspiele (Playing Doctor) releases in August.
Richard Linklater’s highly praised Boyhood hit U.S. moviehouses this weekend courtesy of IFC and is estimated to have taken $379K at five theaters in NY and LA. The movie is being released internationally by Universal and opened in the UK this weekend at 89 sites with $605K. That gave Linklater his second best bow ever in the UK behind School Of Rock. Reviews and word of mouth have been overwhelmingly positive – The Guardian calls it one of the best films of the decade – and momentum has built over the past several weeks as Germany has embraced the movie which first found favor at the Berlin Film Festival last February. In German-Switzerland, it brought in $67K in 13 runs for a 39-day tally of $350K. With an added $840K in four territories at 276 dates, Boyhood’s total is now $3.29M. International dates roll out slowly through early next year. (see territory by territory breakout below). It bows today in the Ukraine.
Fox’s The Other Woman took $1M from 913 screens in 11 markets, crossing the $110M international mark.
Meanwhile, as India prepares for the Eid holiday which will hit next weekend and kick off with the release of Salman Khan’s Kick, this weekend saw Shashank Khaitan’s romcom Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania go out at 101 locations in North America. The Reliance Entertainment release that stars Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana, and Siddharth Shukla earned an estimated $401K.
Key market round-ups
CHINA
There are no major U.S. releases set through the rest of the month in China where box office sales were about $2.21B through the first six months of the year. That was up 24.7% according to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. However, domestic films are down in terms of market share this year and after the success of Transformers: Age Of Extinction which is now at $261.7M, it’s expected an unofficial blackout period is afoot. The next big Hollywood title could be How To Train Your Dragon 2 sometime in mid-August. Local titles already making waves include this weekend’s release of Old Boys: The Way Of The Dragon which had a weekend take of $12.4M and a $16M cume to date. It’s based on an online microfilm that was seen by tens of millions of viewers in 2010. The comedy feature directed by (and starring) Xiao Yang follows Xiao and Wang Taili, aka the Chopstick Brothers, as they seek fame in New York. The Break Up Guru also continues to perform with a cume in four markets of $91.5M. Also opening this week were animated films Seer V, with a weekend haul of $4.2M and a total of $6M, and Roco Kingdom 3 with $3.2M for the weekend and $4.6M overall. Threequel Tiny Times III bows July 17. TAOE this week became the highest-grossing movie ever in China. With 1,396M yuan, it beat Avatar’s 1.39B yuan. While Avatar’s dollar figure is often cited as $221.9M, I understand that Fox uses $204M for its total. The dollar amount, I’m told, is based on weighted rates over the long period the film played in China, which is why the yuan figure was so key. With so many high-profile local pics releasing in China over the next several weeks, TAOE is likely to begin tapering off. If it hits $300M, that means about $75M will go back to Paramount. That’s a tidy sum in a territory where there are virtually no p&a costs. Still, China has the distinction of not providing any ancillaries.
KOREA
In a move that upset some local distributors, Fox backed up the release of Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes from July 17 to July 10. The change was made public on July 4, about a week after the Korea debut of Transformers: Age Of Extinction. With that film performing lower than Dark Of The Moon, Fox’s decision looks like an attempt to grab as much play time as possible for Apes ahead of local pic Kundo: Age Of The Rampant which goes out on July 23. The market is so fast-burn that with Dawn’s No. 1 $11.5M debut on 910 screens, 105% bigger than Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, the quick switch looks like a smart move. Korea can be brutal with Hollywood often trying to get out of the way of local pics which perform strongly in one of the better homegrown industries. Meanwhile, How To Train Your Dragon 2 is currently set for July 24, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see it move onto that July 17 date that Dawn vacated.
ELSEWHERE IN ASIA
Maleficent continued to dominate Japan in its 2nd frame with a 25% drop from last week and a cume of $19.1M to date. Along with the 16-week run of Frozen at No. 1, Disney now has held the top spot for 18 consecutive frames. The Angelina Jolie-starring adventure grossed another $14.6M to take its international cume up to $448.2M in 45 territories. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes started its Asia rollout with No. 1s across the board. In Vietnam it grossed $399K at 50 dates for a 123% rise on Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. Indonesia was good for $1.09M at 300 dates and a 260% jump on Rise for the 4th biggest opening weekend for a Fox title in the market. Similarly, Malaysia earned $1.9M at 400 dates for the 4th highest Fox opening weekend and a 90% on Rise. In the Philippines, Dawn broke at $1.29M on 226 screens; +77% over Rise. Singapore pulled in $1.33M at 79 dates, 69% more than Rise. And, Thailand, with $1.59M at 303 dates, was 116% above Rise. Horror pic Deliver Us From Evil continued its run in some parts of Asia with the following results: Indonesia (-20%, $335K, cume $892K), Malaysia (-56%, $188K, cume $764K), Singapore (-46%, $107K, cume $370K) and Vietnam (-46%, $103K, cume $476K).
BRAZIL/LATIN AMERICA
Transformers: Age Of Extinction launched in Mexico ($16.2M), Colombia ($5.2M), Argentina ($2.7M) and Chile ($1.7M) in advance of its move into Brazil next week – and now that the World Cup is over. The Fault In Our Stars has continued its stellar run in Brazil with a further $1.3M for a 28% drop from last week. With the host country’s home team being obliterated in the semis this week, perhaps Brazilians needed a good cry. How To Train Your Dragon 2 added $1.68M from 789 screens.
UK
The UK saw Transformers : Age Of Extinction arrive with no other major releases in the territory and took No. 1. The film scored the biggest opening of 2014 and of the Transformers franchise with $20.1M (which includes six days of previews). Also bowing was How To Train Your Dragon 2 with $16.1M from 1,060 dates and the No. 2 slot. Just after that, Universal’s local comedy Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’ Movie added $1.9M at 480 dates for a total of $20M. In the No. 4 spot was The Fault In Our Stars in four weeks of release. The No. 5 spot is Begin Again, which stars Mark Ruffalo and Kiera Knightly. Richard Linklater’s Boyhood brought the director’s 2nd best bow ever in the UK with $570K at 89 sites. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes swings in on July 17. The market was the best overseas for the previous film with Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes taking $33.75M.
FRANCE
France, which had uncharacteristically poor local box office in 2013, is seeing a slew of homegrown titles score with audiences this year. The trend continued this weekend with Les Vacances Du Petit Nicolas. The sequel to Laurent Tirard’s successful 2009 film is based on the books created by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé. The family title released by Wild Bunch Distribution went out on 660 screens on Wednesday and grossed an estimated $4.5M in the frame. With kids officially on holiday, Nicolas is expected to continue to perform. Overall, admissions for the first six months of the year in France are up 11.4%. That’s despite a drop of 16.5% in the month of June, explained away to some degree by the impact of the World Cup. French films has about 48.5% market share versus 37.4% in the comparable 2013 period. Hollywood titles are down to 41.6% from 49.8% last year.
GERMANY
The German national football team is right now playing Argentina in the World Cup final. But even for matches in which they do not figure, Germans are avid football watchers. And yet, counterprogrammer The Fault In Our Stars was up 16% from last weekend with $859K at 728 dates this frame for No. 2. Also from Fox, family title Rico, Oskar Und Die Tieferschatten earned $910K locally. Warner Bros just provided figures for Tammy, and it once again held the top spot in Germany, increasing by 2% to take in $1.3M on 463 runs for a total cume to date of $3.2M. As mentioned above, Boyhood took in another $178K at 147 dates and now has a 39-day total of $2.2M here where it has been so warmly received after winning kudos from the Berlin Film Festival earlier in the year. Austria took in another $26K on 27 runs for a 38-day total of $207K. HTTYD2 opens on July 24.
AUSTRALIA
Australia, which was a bit of a downer over the first half of the year has bounced back with a handful of titles performing strongly in the market. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes earned $6.6M at 467 locations in its bow this weekend for the No. 1 slot. It also received the stamp of approval from animal welfare group Humane Research Australia. The org reportedly held a fund-raiser this weekend saying the movie serves as a reminder of “the indiscriminate experimental procedures that we subject our closest relatives to — even in Australia.” Also in Oz, Transformers: Age of Extinction picked up another $2.5M in its 3rd weekend, off 9% from DOTM and helping push a cume of $22.1M. How to Train Your Dragon 2 is No. 2 after four weeks in release and Transformers is No. 3 after three weeks in release here. Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys is having its best run in Australia where it added $1.3M this frame from 301 screens. HTTYD2 added $2.5M from 525 screens in Oz and in New Zealand was up 58% to $790K from 166 runs. With a cume of $18.9M to date, 22 Jump Street added $1.7M this weekend for No. 5. And, Fox’s Rio 2 took $2.3M from 513 screens -– a 5% increase from last weekend to take No. 4. The international cume is now $360.1M.
NOTEWORTHY: The international cume for Godzilla is $292M to date and $198.3M. Its worldwide cume is now $490.3M.
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