‘Force Awakens’ $100M In China; Oscar Fave ‘The Revenant’ Opens Big In UK, Korea – Intl B.O. Update
UPDATED, TUESDAY, 11:28 AM PT: Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens is crossing $100M in China today. Industry sources estimate the ultimate number in this fluctuating market at a range of $110M-$125M. It has 10 days to run until Kung Fu Panda 3 enters the market in earnest. As we’ve noted before, those may not be the lofty numbers some were suggesting a few weeks ago. But it bears remembering that this is essentially new PROC IP. In comps, only eight quota films out of 34 crossed $100M in China last year — and some that “should” have by conventiola wisdom, did not. The weekend saw a lot of screen honey given to animated threequel Boonie Bears III, but in local estimates on Monday, it saw a big drop. The Middle Kingdom, as ever, will be one to watch in the coming week with Kung Fu Panda 3 itching for its January 29 official release. Meanwhile, Fox’s Oscar nominations leader The Revenant which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, is on a quest across Europe, Korea and other territories this weekend, grossing a better than estimated $32M+ across its 18 markets so far. More actuals are rolling in so refresh for the latest.
Anita Busch is reporting on weekend actuals.
UPDATED: Sunday, 12:33 PM writethru on 10:15 AM post: International weekend estimates are in from the studios with Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the lead again at $47.3M in its 5th frame. That moved it past the $1B overseas box office mark, as it looks to overtake Jurassic World in the next day. The major studio opener this weekend was Sony’s The 5th Wave, which took on Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Southeast Asia while The Revenant was unleashed in key territories. In other notable weekend figures, Paramount comedy Daddy’s Home crossed $50M at the international box office with key markets like Mexico, Brazil and Germany to come and Fox’s animated The Peanuts Movie crossed $100M. Several Oscar nominated films are still in play in the international marketplace. For starters:
The Revenant, which led the Oscar nominations this past week (with 12), including for Best Picture, Director, Actor for international star Leonardo DiCaprio, and Supporting Actor for Tom Hardy opened to No. 1 in the UK, Korea and Italy as it took on 25 markets to gross a better than estimated $32.3M (up from $31.5M) on fewer screens than thought (4,894 v 5,140). DiCaprio and gang promoted the film overseas in front of its international expansion with the UK premiere the same day the Oscar noms were announced in the States. Not surprisingly, it garnered the No. 1 spot there with $7.87M, which puts it an impressive 11% ahead of The Wolf Of Wall Street. (More below in the breakdowns.)
On the local-language front, China’s Boonie Bears III animated $16M over the weekend with Royal Treasure unearthing $11.5M. Italy’s Quo Vado? meanwhile has now gone all the way to $63M to become the country’s biggest homegrown grosser of all time. To take the No. 1 crown ever from Avatar, it has just about $9M to go.
NEW
THE 5th WAVE
Debuting one week ahead of its Stateside release, The 5th Wave broke into theater across Europe, the Middle East and Asia this weekend grabbing an estimated $8.58M from over 1,900 screens in 30 markets. Sony noted that the performance is about 1% above Divergent for the same group at today’s exchange rate. The first wave of markets represents about 27% of the film’s international run. Market-by-market breakdowns show that in Germany it grossed $1.2M (which included previews) from 465 screens (13% below Divergent and 7% ahead of I Am Number Four). The sci-fi film also took a spin in Australia where the marketplace right now is crowded given kids are on vacation through month’s end. It was off to good start opening to $1.52M from 196 screens, which is 1% ahead of I Am Number Four. This sci-fi/disaster film could find more audience in the kids market this month there.
It found its stride, however in Southeast Asia where it had strong openings across the entire region — grossing $3.6M, which is 32% ahead of Divergent for the same group at today’s exchange rate. It took No. 1 in Malaysia for a 51% market share with $1.1M from 200 screens, more than 2x greater than both Divergent and I Am Number Four. The 5th Wave also placed No. 1 in Hong Kong, grossing a nice $755K from 76 screens, to put it 53% ahead of Divergent.
Upcoming markets for this one include Brazil and Russia on January 21 followed by Spain and the UK a day later. It will hit France and Mexico before month’s end and then wind its way into Italy on February 4 and Korea on February 25. It won’t hit Japan until April 23.
With a domestic weekend win, Universal’s sequel also opened offshore in 11 territories. The gross for the international frame was $2.8M. There were no major markets in the first batch, but each saw an improvement over the first Kevin Hart/Ice Cube comedy. There were No. 1s in Egypt ($55K), Lebanon ($113K), the Middle East ($900K), Romania ($241K), South Africa ($231K) and the UAE ($950K). Bulgaria, Iceland, Pakistan, Portugal and Slovenia all opened in the Top 5. International dates roll out over the next few months with Germany and the UK notably on deck next weekend and where the action comedy buddies have been busy promoting the movie. The first Ride Along found the bulk of its fans in the UK, Germany and Australia. The total on that one was $19.5M overseas. With an expected three-day weekend opening of $34M domestically, worldwide the comedy now stands at $36.7M. Through Monday, it is now $44.1M.
HOLDOVERS
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now the 5th film ever to cross $1B at the international box office. That’s also a first time to the offshore milestone for Disney. The weekend was worth a better than expected $48.4M, lifting the cume to $1,018.6M. The global total is now $1,863.7M. The Top 5 overseas markets are now the UK ($168.8M), Germany ($100.1M), China ($100M), France ($80M) and Japan ($73.5M). My full report on TFA is here.
THE REVENANT
To make its $32.3M offshore this weekend, a big opening territory for the Alejandro Inarritu directed film was Korea, which took in a lofty $5.7M to become No. 1 in the marketplace. With previews, the film was going into the weekend with a stellar $3.7M so we anticipated a big number for the film in this territory. It now stands as distributor Fox’s 8th biggest opening of all time in Korea. This is a perfect movie for Korean audiences who go for the more serious, intellectual and this type of genre fare.
The film also bested Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Germany with a big $4.4M gross in its sophomore weekend to overtake the No. 1 spot. SWTFA, which has been out for many weeks, just crossed $100M in the territory which is no small feat. Also in its second weekend, The Revenant kept hold of the No. 1 spot in Russia, earning another $3.3M. In Italy, the western tapped $3.2M and logged in a higher opening gross than either The Wolf of Wall Street or Django Unchained. In Australia, the film held exceptionally well, dipping only 8% to add another $2.6M. It also held well in its second weekend in play in New Zealand, down only 24%, to keep its No. 1 spot.
So, with over 53 markets left to release, the estimated international cume now stands at $59.4M. Worldwide through the three-day domestic weekend, the film has garnered about $147M.
CREED
With a Best Supporting Actor nom under its belt for Sylvester Stallone, Creed took a $14.5M purse this weekend in 34 markets. With 1.96M admissions from 4,182 screens, the international cume now stands at a much better than expected $30.2M. Worldwide, it has grossed around $132M.
This weekend in France, the boxing picture led among all the holdovers and also bested the opening of local title Tout Schuss. In terms of admissions here, Warner Bros noted that the results of Creed are on par with the Clint Eastwood boxing favorite Million Dollar Baby. It also did three times as much as the opening of the Jake Gyllenhaal boxing drama Southpaw. Those are the comps. Creed tallied $3.9M over 561K admissions on 450 screens in France. The UK debuted to a big $3.2M on 333K admissions from 666 screens. Ranking No. 3 in the marketplace, its results are said to be 180% higher than Million Dollar Baby and 32% higher than Southpaw.
Looking to Italy where the Italian Stallion is beloved, it opened to strong results as well with $2.85M on 351 admissions from 332 screens, only a hair behind local comedy Quo Vado?. It ranked No. 3. The grosses here tripled Million Dollar Baby and ranked four times higher than that of Southpaw. In Germany, it grossed $1.5M from 326 screens to get the No. 3 spot. However, again, its grosses doubled other totals of the two comp boxing pictures.
In Brazil where it was a highly competitive holiday weekend, the Ryan Coogler film finished with $941K from 361 locales, once again running ahead of the comps of Rocky Balboa and Million Dollar Baby.
The biggest market for this picture outside the U.S. is Australia with $5.1M. It will be released in Spain and Mexico on January 29.
THE HATEFUL 8
Dropping 28% from last weekend, Quentin Tarantino’s western added $12.5M in its 2nd offshore frame. That’s from 23 territories reporting thus far. The overseas total is now $35M. With a new cume of around $44.1M in the states, this bloody film is now at a worldwide cume of $79M+.
In new openings, Spain huddled together to give the ensemble piece a No. 1 start with $1.8M. Argentina opened at No. 2 with $325K and 24% ahead of Inglourious Basterds. In Australia, which is mirroring the U.S. release plan of a week of exclusive 70MM engagements before the wide roll out, the movie earned $445K for a per-screen average of $74K. In Russia, the dastardly gang climbed up by 2% and grossed $1.25M. The cume there is now $2.9M. Other holds include the Netherlands ($2M cume, +7% on Django Unchained); Brazil ($2.3M); the UK ($7.6M); and France ($7.7M). In Scandinavia, the total is $3.9M across four countries. It’s No. 1 in Finland where it had the biggest Saturday for any Tarantino movie ever in the market and played bigger than IB and DU over the weekend. It’s also No. 1 in Norway and No. 2 in Sweden and Denmark.
THE LAST WITCH HUNTER
This Lionsgate film headlined by Vin Diesel debuted this weekend in China with an estimated $9.5M, putting it at No. 3 behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and local favorite animated film Boonie Bears III. Another film, Royal Treasures is closing in on Witch Hunter so today will be a key indicator of whether it keeps its No. 3 status. The estimated cume right now is just under $100M with $96.5M; its top grossing market is (not surprisingly) Russia with $9.7M, then China and Brazil ($8.9M).
DADDY’S HOME
The comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell opened in nine new markets this weekend to gross another big $7.8M and taking the No. 1 spot in some Latin American territories. It is at home now in 39 markets with a cume of around $50.4M. Worldwide, the number now stands at an estimated $170M+.
Looking at some key markets in Latin America where it debuted: Argentina opened this weekend to No. 1 to gross a nice $498K at 138 locations — which distributor Paramount notes is 159% above Spy, 146% above Grown Ups 2 and 90% above The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. It is also the biggest weekend opening for a Will Ferrell movie in that territory.
The laugher had another strong No. 1 opening in Colombia where it took in $400K from 153 sites — 816% above The Other Guys, 207% above The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, 107% above Dumb & Dumber To and 105% above Grown Ups 2, according to the distributor. Another No. 1 opening resulted in Panama where it grossed another strong $381K from 80 sites, and once again, it logged in 131% above Dumb & Dumber To, 81% above Walter Mitty and 28% above Spy.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands it opened to No. 3 to gross $350K at 60 locations. Still, the distributor noted that this result is still 165% above The Other Guys, 52% above Grown Ups 2 and 4% above Walter Mitty.
In its holdover business, it delivered another $2.1M in its 4th weekend in the UK from 465 locations to land at No. 4. The local cume is now $20.8M. Australia is also in its 4th weekend out, and in 274 locales, it ranked No. 5 and has a tally to date of $12.9M.
The film has yet to open in Germany, Brazil and Mexico. The next stop will be in Belgium on January 20, followed the next day with Austria, Chile and Germany. Before month’s end, it will hit Brazil and Mexico.
THE PEANUTS MOVIE
Fox’s animated The Peanuts Movie flew past $100M this weekend, hauling in another $7.4 from 6,394 screens in 59 markets. This weekend, the Peanuts gang swung into Brazil and entertained audiences there to the tune of $2.4M, which is notable because it was about 4% bigger than what Inside Out grossed. The animated family film took No. 1 in the market. The Fox film also had strong holdovers in some of its top markets to push the gross to $102.1M. Specifically, in the UK (-33%), Australia (-20%), and Spain (-26%).
THE BIG SHORT
Nominated for five Oscars this past week including Best Picture, Director and Supporting Actor (for Christian Bale), The Big Short is playing in 38 markets and ended the weekend with an estimated $7M from 38 markets. Of that, the ensemble piece about the U.S. housing market, including 14 new openings. The international cume is now $18M and counting. With its domestic take of around $45.3M after the three-day weekend Stateside, the worldwide cume on this Adam McKay-directed picture is around $63.3M.
Australia opened to No. 6 for a $1.4M take in 190 dates, which Paramount noted is 11% above Up In The Air, which they are using as the comp in other territories as well. Germany’s No. 6 opening grossed $1.0M from 282 cinemas (31% below Up In The Air). Brazil‘s launch made $629K at 175 sites, to rank No. 7 (+35% above Up In The Air). Taiwan opened No. 4 with about $277K at 72 locations (+90% above Up In The Air).
In its holdovers, The Big Short‘s 2nd weekend in Italy took in an estimated $1.2M from 311 locations. The cume there now is $3.7M. In its 4th weekend in France at 363 sites, it pocketed another $420K (-40% from a week earlier). The cume in France stands at $5M. The 2nd weekend in Mexico grossed $322K in 343 cinemas where its cume now stands at $1M. It will next open in the Philippines on January 20 with Korea launching a day later. It will bow in the UK on January 28 and will reach Japan on March 4.
ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP
Another animated family film from Fox, Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip, rode in with another better than expected $6.6M (up from $6M) from 4,515 screens in 33 markets. It had a strong opening in Russia, garnering a better than thought $2M (up from the $1.6M estimate), which was 3X bigger than Alvin 3. It also enjoyed strong holds in Mexico ($908K, down only 33%), Australia ($773K, down only 19%), and Brazil ($610K, down only 42%) to push the international cume to $46M. This film is far from ending its run. In fact, it is pushing into 43 additional markets — including 5 of the top 10 — through mid-February.
JOY
The Jennifer Lawrence starring film swept in another $4.6M, down a bit from the $5M estimated over the weekend. It is playing in 53 markets on about 3,484 screens. Lawrence, who international audiences love because of The Hunger Games franchise, received a Best Actress nomination this past week. With five of the 10 top international markets yet to release, it has an international cume to date of $31.4M. It enjoyed excellent holdover business from Spain ($718K, down only 30%), France ($419K, down only 38%), Mexico ($336K, down only 38%), and Holland ($206K, down only 11%). Together with its estimated domestic cume of $51.3M, it’s worldwide gross to date is $83.1M.
POINT BREAK
Led by a strong hold in Mexico where the film continued in the No. 1 spot for the 2nd straight week, Point Break surfed in with a lesser than estimated $4.35M total this weekend from 719k admissions on2,116 screens. The Warner Bros/Alcon/DMG film is playing in 67 markets, bringing the cume to $13.6M from the territories handled by the studio. In its markets it posted roughly $2.5M, but if you add in estimates from the Lionsgate territories, the weekend tally is $4.6M, for a cume of $79.2M. Worldwide it has only garnered about $107.2M through this weekend. The top market outside China where it released early is Russia with $5.5M to date.
In Mexico, it added $1.2M on 1,192 screens. The cume to date there is a big $4M. In Argentina, it debuted to a $222K gross from 192 screens to exceed previous results. The picture has yet to open in the UK where it will bow on February 5 and also Japan, where it will run into theaters on February 20. The next market, however, is Germany on January 21.
THE DANISH GIRL
Hot on the heels of Oscar nominations for stars Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl added $4.1M this frame in 16 territories. The early international total is now $12.8M. After this weekend stateside, the worldwide gross is now an estimated $20.8M. Universal was adding in Monday figures now today so it’s not comparing apples to apples with the other studios … waiting on the actuals now.
Spain opened at No. 4 with $977K at 274 dates and is performing at the top end of such comps as The Imitation Game and Birdman, and evenly with last year’s The Theory Of Everything. Mexico bowed at an excellent No. 2 with $917K at 240 dates. Other new openers included the Netherlands ($170K) and Vietnam ($158K). The UK added $1M in holdover for a 17-day total of $7.9M. There are still 44 markets to open over the next two months. While censors in many Middle East countries have banned the movie, it will open in Egypt this coming weekend along with Australia, France and others.
SISTERS
Pals Tina Fey and Amy Poehler partied down with another $2.1M in 20 territories this weekend for an early international total of $11.5M. Openers included Russia ($146K/370 dates) and Peru ($50/23). In holds, Australia took another $1.5M for a good 11-day total of $4.9M. New Zealand has an 11-day take of $327K. There are a further 28 markets to release for Universal. Next frame the sisters travel to Brazil and Colombia. Its worldwide cume to date is approximately $87.9M.
BRIDGE OF SPIES
Garnering six Oscar nominations last week, including Best Picture, Bridge Of Spies grossed another better than hoped $2M (up from the guesstimate of $1.7M) from 1,520 screens in 14 markets. It had excellent holdover business in Japan — $634K for No. 4 in the market in its 2nd weekend of release. It is playing 31% ahead of Captain Phillips, which (of course) also starred Tom Hanks. It is in its 5th week of play in Italy, taking in another $475K for an impressive market cume over $11M. In Spain it grabbed another $292K to push the international cume to $87M+.
IN THE HEART OF THE SEA
Adding in another $1.34M (down from the estimated $1.47M) over the weekend, Ron Howard’s In The Heart Of The Sea from Warner Bros. now has an international cume of only $65.6M. The last key market for this adventure film opened this weekend — Japan which reeled in $741K on 561 screens. The best playing market for this picture is Mexico ($6.4M cume), with Korea ($5.8M) not too far behind it.
STEVE JOBS
Universal’s double Oscar nominee in the acting categories clicked an estimated $620K in 18 territories this weekend and raised the international total to $11.1M. Among openers, Brazil was in limited release with $150K at 53 dates and Hong Kong bowed to $229K at 35. There are still 15 more territories on deck, including Italy, France, Australia and Japan.
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