Quigley

Let's put this in perspective: HTTYD2 made less than KFP2 and Ice Age 2. It barely surpassed Madagascar 2, while Croods and Tangled are close behind. It was nowhere close to the Shrek sequels or Madagascar 3. Despite years of inflation, 3D and IMAX tickets and a Chinese-appealing theme (dragons), it still performed averagely in WW grosses - or slightly better than average, if you're optimistic. With respect to pre-release expectations, it was a disappointment. Take into account the scarcity of family fare this summer and you basically have a film that narrowly escaped disaster status. Please don't say that it earned more than HTTYD. It did but Shrek and Madagascar earned about the same amount as HTTYD - a lot earlier than the latter - and their sequels have nevertheless been highly succesful (even Mad 2's gross was quite impressive at the time).

I want whatever's necessary to bring it above Maleficent in WW grosses (after taking Italy into account as well).

Indeed. TF4 may have earned $300M+ in China, but that's because of the booming economy and the rapidly increasing number of screens. Conversely, growth in Japan was minimal, if it existed at all. Spirited Away is probably the only other run in an individual country that one can arguably say was better. However, since Japan was a foreign market for Frozen but not for SA, the runs seem equally impressive.

As long as Guardians reaches $70M by the end of its run, I don't care who tops it.

You have a point, but I mean, it could have earned $320M in NA (higher than Lion King), $130 in Japan (higher than TS3) and $50M in South Korea (best animated film). All these grosses would still be very impressive, but it wouldn't have surpassed TS3 WW. (it would have made $1050M) What I mean is that these three territories are the ones that took it the next level. All other countries were very impressive but nothing record-breakingly awesome. Besides, if your criterion is non-sequel animated films, it only needed $988M to achieve that (to beat Lion King). That means $311M in NA (less than Lion King), $90M in Japan (less than MonstersU) and $40M in SK (less than Kung Fu Panda 2) would have been enough.

The real question is whether it'll cross the half-billion-dollar mark.

Well then, don't worry. The China box office is updated daily on this forum.

Can't wait for Guardians in China! I hope the wait pays off. In my opinion, the condition is similar to Frozen. It's release is coming off a record holiday week, with many Hollywood movies being released shortly afterwards. It is an original property - like Frozen - and it has great word of mouth and was highly successful commercially - at least in North America. Given that it's a Marvel film in 3D with a lot of action, it's definitely more appealing than Frozen to the Chinese. $70M very likely; higher is possible.

To be fair, they did update it relatively recently... By the way, what is impressive about Frozen is that three countries are the ones that made it into what it is: North America, Japan and South Korea. There's nothing exceptional about it in any other country. Pretty much like Toy Story 3 (NA, Japan, UK) - although Mexico was equally exceptional I guess.

China is gonna reach $5B after all... Surpassing North America will be a piece of cake - it's already half way there.

Never mind, they fixed it after I emailed them. Sorry for the confusion.

This is pretty pathetic, I know, but GotG (¥783M) has earned more than Thor 2 (¥612M) and Cap 2 (¥673M) - according to BOM. It could even reach ¥1B I think.

BOM has TF4's ONA total at $835.5 as of Sep 14. It has made $2.1M in Venezuela since then: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&country=VE&id=transformers4.htm so ONA total should be $837.6M. Add in $245.4M from NA and you have $1083M. It's still earning a few hundred thousand dollars in Venezuela per week and some more crumbs in NA. Ultimately, it should surpass the $1084.4M total of TDKR: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/ thus reaching 10th place all time worldwide (but not for long since Hobbit 3 will probably earn more than that).

In a previous version with estimates, Deadline said the GotG earned $4M over the weekend and $325.1M in total. When they reported actuals they said $4.2M and $330.2M in total. How can a change of $0.2M in the weekend gross cause a $5.1M increase in the ONA total. We know it had made $321.3M by Wednesday according to ScreenDaily, and even if it reached $323.2M by Thursday, it would need $7M over the weekend to reach what Deadline claims. http://deadline.com/2014/09/international-box-office-equalizer-maze-runner-lucy-boxtrolls-842566/

You're right. But the reason for its underperformance in China is Gravity and CF: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/intl/china/?yr=2013&wk=47&p=.htm It was doing great until week 2 and then in week 3 it fell 75%.

I think in retrospect, Thor: TDW's worlwide gross was actually nothing more than average. Cap 2 and Guardians has surpassed it. Was it the outside-summer release date? Was it because of being squished between Gravity and Catching Fire? Maybe, but also it seems Thor isn't as bankable as the other two.

Whenever the only interesting box office news within a week are the weekend report and ScreenDaily's Friday morning report, as it has been for the last few weeks, that's when things get really boring. No records, no nothing. Even Guadians has slowed down significantly and it's another two weeks until China...

Overseas: Yes Worldwide: No

Avatar, Alice, Pirates 4, HP7 - P2, Frozen and Toy Story 3 were all in 3D. 3D isn't a problem when the movie is appealing.

Fox is reporting $103M for Apes. So annoying when studios disagree with EntGroup...

Venezuela is the main market where TF4 is making money. Films are pretty leggy there so yeah, TDKR is leaving the Top 10.

If you're talking about the weekend numbers, they're actuals.

Data from Deadline reports and Box Office Mojo data for individual territories.

As per Deadline, these are the WEEKEND results (actuals), according to the respective studios: 1. Into The Storm $7.7M 2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes $7.64M 3. Expendables 3 $7.5M Another report says that Into the Storm's figure includes previews - so the actual weekend tally is $7.16M, putting in third place. http://deadline.com/2014/09/box-office-lucy-russia-record-guardians-of-the-galaxy-crosses-600-million-worldwide-sex-tape-834320/

$450M ONA is pretty much the ceiling for its potential, but I think it will at least pass Maleficent WW. By the way, the sub-40% drop among holdovers is encouraging. Let's hope the pattern continues. UPDATE: The weekend tally is $10.5M, including $2.3M from Japan. Holdover markets made $8.2M, down only 29% from last weekend's $11.5M. Go Gaurdians! http://deadline.com/2014/09/box-office-lucy-russia-record-guardians-of-the-galaxy-crosses-600-million-worldwide-sex-tape-834320/