The International Box Office Discussion Thread

[A Marvel Fanboy]

Is TA with or without Japan?

No. with Japan, 900M should happen.

[rb02]

Snow White will end with about the same as Prince of Persia. Prometheus is looking at 250M, but we will only know when it opens in August in the final big markets.Madagascar 3 :oMIB3 over 425M, very good, IMO.

Good call on the SW/PoP comparision. I just checked and it seems that they have VERY comparable openers for the major markets; SW was slightly ahead for the biggest ones that I checked (Brazil, Mexico, UK, Spain, SK, and Germany) but it's very close.If SW does match it through its run overseas, then it should probably end up with 400M WW. I worry that it might take a bit of a hit with the Euro tourney though, which could hurt legs a bit.

[rb02]

Looking back at it, it's interesting how PoP could have easily been a hit instead of a flop. Just about 25M less of a budget, which should have been EASILY done, and about 25m or 30m more domestic, and voila. It's a fine line sometimes.

[Heretic]

"Prometheus" places second while "Men in Black 3" drops to No. 3 as the foreign box office competes with the European soccer tournament.

Bucking a competitive marketplace coping with European soccer tournament distractions, DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted claimed the No. 1 box office spot on the foreign theatrical circuit by logging a muscular $75.5 million in its opening launch at 10,148 venues in 28 countries.

Distributor Paramount said the second sequel in the Madagascar franchise took the No. 1 spots in “nearly all” of its opening markets with the biggest numbers coming from territories mostly outside continental Europe.

Best European territory was France where the No. 1 opening round provided $7.6 million from 685 locations. Still, Paramount noted that the France opening was 13% below that of the first franchise sequel, 2008’s Madagascar: Escape To Africa, which went on to gross a total of $423.9 million overseas. (Foreign total for the 2005 original, Madagascar, is $339.1 million.)

Of the 28 opening territories only five were Continental and Eastern Europe. Russia came in with $16.4 million from 881 spots while Brazil delivered a record opening of $11 million from 471 situations. China kicked in with $10.4 million from 5,500 venues.

There’s no question that the European Cup soccer matches, which began Friday (June 8) in Poland and the Ukraine, inhibited foreign theatrical attendance on the weekend, substantially so in some cases.

Netherlands versus Denmark and Germany versus Portugal matches on Saturday resulted in box office drops of 30% to 50% from Friday levels in each of those markets, which is highly unusual. Further specific market dips are expected Sunday with Spain playing Italy and Ireland taking on Croatia.

No. 2 on the weekend wasPrometheus, director-coproducer Ridley Scott’s horror-sci/fi title -- loosely linked to his 1979 Alien – which drew $39.2 million in its second weekend on the foreign circuit, playing at 8,263 sites in 50 markets. The 3D title opened in 35 markets of which about eight were in Europe.

Despite warm weather and the Euro Cup, Prometheus nabbed the No. 1 spot for the second straight weekend in the U.K. ($5.2 million from 1,162 spots for a market cume of $25 million) and drew $4 million in France from 665 situations for a market cume of $12 million over two rounds.

Top new market was Australia where Prometheus opened No. 1 with $6.8 million swept from 635 locations. Over a dozen days of foreign release, the film has accumulated a total of nearly $100 million offshore ($91.5 million). Openings in 14 more markets including Mexico and Brazil are due this week. IMAX said Prometheus has grossed nearly $5 million so far at IMAX situations.

Third was Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman, which collected $24.6 million from 5,261 situations in 52 territories, lifting the film’s foreign cume to $83.5 million. Director Rupert Sanders’period action fantasy costarring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theronopened in seven medium-sized markets and finished first in each, as per Universal.

Top holdover market was the U.K. where Snow White grossed $3.6 million at 467 spots for a No. 3 market ranking and a 10-day market cume of $14.7 million. Openings in five markets are on tap this week including bows in France, Russia and Japan.

No. 4, Men in Black III distributed by Sony and other distributors, fell 51% from the prior weekend’s action ($78.5 million) based on figures from all territories. Director Barry Sonnenfeld’s specialeffects extravaganza in 3D costarring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin drew $38.3 millionfrom 14,860 venues in 79 markets.

Top markets were China ($7 million from 3,200 sites for a market cume of $63.4 million) and Japan via local distributor Toho-Towa ($4 million from 1,275 venues, cume $27.8 million; No.1 in the market). U.K. action came to $3.9 million from 844 locales, enough for a No. 2 ranking and a market cume of $24.3 million.

With an offshore cume of $352.1 million, the second sequel is now the biggest foreign grosser of theMIB franchise. 1997’s original Men in Black grossed $338.7 million offshore (versus $250.7 million in the U.S. and Canada) while 2002’s Men in Black II compiled $251.4 million overseas ($190.4 million domestic).

No. 5 on the weekend was Marvel’s The Avengers, which captured $7.8 million in its seventh round in 54 territories. International cume stands at $824.4 million with the worldwide tally at $1.396 billion. Avengers is just about played out overseas although a key Japan bow is still in its future (Aug. 17).

Paramount’s The Dictator, the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy, grossed $4.9 million in its fourth round overseas, playing at 2,091 locations in 32 territories and raising its foreign gross total to $70.3 million. Warner Bros.’ Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp hit the $130-million foreign gross mark after a $4.56 million weekend at 3,268 in 52 markets. Openings in Latin America are due June 22.

Top local language title in France was UGC’s release of director Jacques Audiard’s Un gout de rouille et d’os (Rust & Bone). The drama about an ex-boxer (Matthias Schoenaerts) who takes up with a trainer of killer whales (Marion Cotillard) drew an estimated $1.4 million at some 500 playdates, lifting its market cume over four stanzas to $10.5 million and securing the market’s No. 4 spot.

No. 5 in France was newcomer Le grand soir, co-directors Benoit Delepine and Gustav Kervern’spunk rock comedy costarring Albert Dupontel and Gerard Depardieu. The film won the jury prize in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, and opened to an estimated $1.2 million at some 400 screens.

Other international cumes: Universal’s Moonrise Kingdom, $1.8 million over 17 days in the U.K. only; Fox’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, $82.8 million; Universal’s American Pie: Reunion, $172.6 million; Fox’s We Bought A Zoo, $41 million; Universal’s Battleship, $235.6 million; Pathe’s Le Prenom, $22.6 million over seven rounds in France only; Universal’s Dr. Seuss;The Lorax, $97.9 million; and Universal’s Hanni and Nanni 2, $4.7 million in German-speaking territories.

Half term really boosted movies in the UK. MIB3 will end above $30m in the UK after a start of under $5m. Prometheus also dropped less than 50%.

[CJohn]

Good call on the SW/PoP comparision. I just checked and it seems that they have VERY comparable openers for the major markets; SW was slightly ahead for the biggest ones that I checked (Brazil, Mexico, UK, Spain, SK, and Germany) but it's very close.If SW does match it through its run overseas, then it should probably end up with 400M WW. I worry that it might take a bit of a hit with the Euro tourney though, which could hurt legs a bit.

PoP opened against the World Championship. His legs will be almost the same.

[druv10]

No. with Japan, 900M should happen.

I wouldn't say should happen but it could .

[fmpro]

PoP opened against the World Championship. His legs will be almost the same.

Good thing here is that DOM will be much higher for SWAT and the budget was lower.I think its a good number for a non sequel 2D movie these days

[CJohn]

Good thing here is that DOM will be much higher for SWAT and the budget was lower.I think its a good number for a non sequel 2D movie these days

Of course it is. But the budget should have been 150M tops.

[tilko]

And what difference can make 20m ? This are peanuts for such big studio !

[John Marston]

ugh, thanks to exchange rates, it looks like movies in France and Germany barely made any progress last week

[fmpro]

Of course it is. But the budget should have been 150M tops.

Agree.. especially without the 3D

[fmpro]

And what difference can make 20m ? This are peanuts for such big studio !

Still has to make 40-50 mill more in BO to get it back

[fmpro]

ugh, thanks to exchange rates, it looks like movies in France and Germany barely made any progress last week

.. That sucks

[pinocchio]

ugh, thanks to exchange rates, it looks like movies in France and Germany barely made any progress last week

Euro/USD didn't have dramatic swings lately. If box office looks lame, it's because of the Euro 2012. Two soccer games every day with record TV ratings, so all the evening movie showings in Europe will suffer anyway.

[pinocchio]

To give you a hint how big the Euro 2012 is in Europe: Germany vs. Portugal had 22 mio viewers in Germany alone. (That would be something like 80 mio viewers in the USA if you look at size of the population.)

[IndustriousAngel]

Avengers and AP4 actually did got down this week in Germany (the accumulated cume, that is) - so as of yesterday Avengers made only 32mil US-$ in Germany+Austria whereas last week it already had 33mil in its coffers.

[peludo]

More data to see Euro influence. Yesterday, match between Poland and Russia was watched by nearly 4 million in Spain on TV (24% people watching TV). Comparing to US, that would be about 25 million. And, in theory, we should not be very interested on this match.The match between Spain and Italy, on Sunday, was watched by more than 10 million (without counting many people watched it in bars or giant screens). The average global gross of movies in a weekend is usually about 8-11 million. Last weekend it has drop to barely 5 million

Edited June 13, 2012 by peludo

[pinocchio]

Spain/Italy last sunday had 13 mio viewers in Germany... Members from America probably have no idea how big those events really are. ;)Box office in Germany last weekend was 40% lower than previous year.

[Rudolf]

Spain-Italy had 1.1m viewers on TSN in Canada and 2.113m on ESPN in the US.

[peludo]

13 million wow. Germany-Portugal was watched in Spain by 4.4 million and 35.8% share, which is monstruous, and Netherlands-Denmark had 2.5 million and 23.6%

Edited June 13, 2012 by peludo