GREECE: 'It Ends With Us' receives second-weekend boost; dethrones Gru and his minions.

[BOfficeStats]

On 7/22/2024 at 7:30 AM, Quigley said:

since no major competition arrives until August 15 (the English-language version of 'Despicable Me 4'). The Greek-dubbed version arrives a week later on August 22.

Is it common for the English and Greek language versions to release at separate times?

[Quigley]

On 7/31/2024 at 5:56 AM, BOfficeStats said:

Is it common for the English and Greek language versions to release at separate times?

They did the same thing for 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' in 2022. I've not seen it in any other case.

 

I think the opposite may have happened before: the release of the Greek version preceded the release of the English version, but this had a much smaller impact on weekend admissions, since most moviegoers watch the Greek version.

[Quigley]

Weekend: August 1-4, 2024

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Deadpool & Wolverine	47,360	-33.7%	156	-15	197,713	2
2	Inside Out 2	9,624	-23.1%	88	-9	606,021	8
3	Longlegs	3,996	-20.1%	39	-8	51,047	4
4	Zwei zu eins [German]	3,727	–	14	–	3,727	1
5	Cocorico [French]	3,718	+22.7%	24	+10	20,013	3
6	Daddio	3,224	–	15	–	3,224	1
7	Heureux gagnants [French]	2,890	–	11	–	2,890	1
8	Mothers' Instinct	1,543	-77.5%	22	-43	12,447	2
9	Dragonkeeper [Spanish–Chinese]	1,384	+0.5%	25	-3	10,447	3
10	Todo sobre mi madre [Spanish]	1,300	+4.8%	7	+4	3,239	2

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-01-08-2024.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-emptying-shelves/

https://www.grandmagazine.gr/el/article/8033/box-office-i-kuriarxia-ton-deadpool-wolverine

 

It was an amazing second weekend hold for 'Deadpool & Wolverine', which guaranteed a final cume above its predecessors and probably north of 300K admissions. 'Inside Out 2' reached what will likely be its final milestone: 600K admissions. Overall, weekend admissions dipped to 89,457, which is on par with the same time last year.

 

Weekend: August 8-11, 2024

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Deadpool & Wolverine	22,059	-53.4%	117	-39	246,694	3
2	Inside Out 2	7,160	-26.0%	72	-16	620,051	9
3	Giants of la Mancha [Argentinian–German]	4,245	–	53	–	4,245	1
4	The Fabulous Four	3,227	–	15	–	3,227	1
5	Cocorico [French]	3,172	-14.7%	25	+1	25,168	4
6	Longlegs	3,046	-23.8%	32	-7	57,255	5
7	Un coup de dés [French]	1,630	–	17	–	1,630	1
8	Zwei zu eins [German]	1,561	-58.1%	9	-5	6,819	2
9	Todo sobre mi madre [Spanish]	1,442	+10.9%	11	+4	5,236	3
10	Bonnard, Pierre et Marthe [French]	1,204	+136.5%	3	0	2,669	2

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-08-08-2024.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-august-with-no-miracles/

 

'Deadpool & Wolverine' may have stayed at the top for a third weekend, but it recorded a much steeper drop than the previous weekend. Although still headed for the 300K-admission milestone, its chances of getting there seem dimmer. 'Inside Out 2' continues to post formidable holds despite the fact that we are in the heart of the summer, when many people are away from the big cities and spending most of their time at the beach. Overall, weekend admissions plunged to 59,419, which is on par with last year.

 

Weekend: August 15-18, 2024

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Despicable Me 4	12,561	–	80	–	12,561	1
2	Deadpool & Wolverine	11,095	-49.7%	84	-33	270,857	4
3	Iris et les hommes [French]	4,839	–	33	–	4,839	1
4	Inside Out 2	4,754	-33.6%	53	-19	629,536	10
5	Longlegs	2,596	-14.8%	34	+2	61,733	6
6	Cocorico [French]	2,224	-29.9%	15	-10	29,689	5
7	The Fabulous Four	2,129	-34.0%	20	+5	6,099	2
8	Soudain seuls [French]	1,377	–	10	–	1,377	1
9	Giants of la Mancha [Argentinian–German]	1,292	-69.6%	30	-23	7,358	2
10	C'è ancora domani [Italian]	1,143	N/A	6	N/A	18,722	6

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-15-08-2024.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-august-with-no-miracles/

 

Back to the present: 'Despicable Me 4's' English-language version received a wide release, but attracted a relatively small crowd - yet another demonstration that the English-language version of animated films is not preferred by Greek audiences. Then again, being released on the Dormition weekend was not in its favour. August 15 is a religious and public holiday across the country, with most Greeks taking the 16th off work too, for a 4-day weekend to spend away from the big cities at a warm place closer to the beach or a cool place up in the mountains to escape the heatwave. The only fair comp for the animated fourquel is the release of the English-language version of 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' back in August 2022. That one sold 16,084 admissions from 83 screens. Next weekend will give us a more definitive idea of where the film will land relative to previous franchise entries.

 

'Deadpool & Wolverine' continued its relatively big drops, although not too bad for a superhero film. At this rate, it will likely miss the 300K-admission milestone and end up with around 290-295K admissions. It has nevertheless become the biggest 'Deadpool' or 'Wolverine' film and the 9th biggest superhero film of all time. It will soon overtake 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' to become 8th and that's as far as it will get. I'll post the updated Top 10 next week. Meanwhile, 'Inside Out 2' had another impressive hold. With 630K admissions, you may be wondering where this monster ranks on the all time charts. Based on incomplete data that goes back to the mid-90s, it just surpassed 'Mamma Mia' (622,200 admissions) to rank somewhere between 14th and 18th place on the all-time list of Hollywood films. Its next stop would be to top 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' (655K admissions), but with the expansion of 'Despicable Me 4' next week, such a feat seems highly unlikely.

 

Cumulative weekend admissions dropped to a dismal 54,366, which was to be expected for a weekend that is traditionally one of the quietest of the year. If anything, it has actually overperformed, since there have been six other weekends in the second quarter of 2024 that sold fewer admissions. Overall, 2024 is trailing 2023 by 1%. The autum-winter slate of 2023 was very strong ('Oppenheimer', 'Murderess', 'The Nun II', 'A Haunting in Venice') and it's gonna be tough for 2024 to match it. However, it's got a good shot with 'Despicable Me 4', 'Joker 2', 'Venom 3', 'Gladiator II', 'Moana 2', 'Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim', 'Mufasa').

Edited August 22 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Weekend: August 22-25, 2024

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Despicable Me 4	77,082	+513.7%	217	+137	98,950	2
2	Trap	17,699	–	127	–	17,699	1
3	Deadpool & Wolverine	8,382	-24.5%	53	-31	289,375	5
4	Widow Clicquot	6,045	–	15	–	6,045	1
5	Inside Out 2	2,712	-43.0%	34	-19	638,069	11
6	20.000 especies de abejas [Spanish]	1,693	–	11	–	1,693	1
7	Krótki film o zabijaniu (1988, re-release) [Polish]	1,442	–	4	–	1,442	1
8	Anatomy of a Murder (1959, re-release)	1,341	–	3	–	1,341	1
9	Longlegs	1,155	-55.5%	19	-15	65,441	7
10	Death on the Nile (1978, re-release)	1,122	–	1	–	1,122	1

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-22-08-24.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-bigger-than-the-minions/

 

With the arrival of its dubbed version, 'Despicable Me 4' spread like an epidemic across the Greek cinematic landscape, achieving a humongous second weekend. If it was an opening weekend, it would have ranked 8th among animated films and third among 2024 films, behind 'Inside Out 2' (98,084 admissions) and Greek film 'Don't Open the Door' (81,666 admissions). Although technically a second weekend, it still feels like an opening weekend given that it had opened last weekend with about a third of this weekend's screens. Despite this, it is still the second-best second weekend among animated films, behind 'Inside Out 2's' phenomenal 93,965-admission sophomore frame. The most fair comp though is 'Minions: The Rise of Gru', which also premiered with an English-language version before releasing the dubbed version a week later. That film had scored a 57,732-admission second weekend back in August 2022, with an 11-day total of 84,581 admissions. The fourquel has thus performed decidedly better, despite registering a smaller opening last weekend. Here is the franchise's performance overall:

 

The Despicable Me franchise
Title	Opening weekend	Release date	Total admissions	Multiple
Minions	91,770	Thu 24 Sep 15	290,513	3.17
Despicable Me 3	82,418	Thu 31 Aug 17	308,997	3.75
Despicable Me 2	45,725	Thu 10 Oct 13	216,137	4.73
Despicable Me	27,940	Thu 25 Nov 10	111,541	3.99
Minions: The Rise of Gru	16,084	Thu 18 Aug 22	345,671	21.49
Despicable Me 4	12,561	Thu 15 Aug 24	98,950	7.88

 

'Despicable Me 4's' final tally will depend greatly on its legs. 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' ended up becoming the biggest film of the franchise and one of the Top 10 animated films ever mainly because of its late legs. 'Despicable Me 4' has good chances of enjoying a similar run, with its biggest competition in the next two months probably being animated 'Transformers One', slated for release in 4 weeks.

 

Meanwhile, 'Deadpool & Wolverine' enjoyed its best hold yet and is rather unexpectedly probably going to cross the 300K-admission milestone. It has surpassed 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' to become the 9th-biggest comic-book film ever. Even more unexpectedly, 'Inside Out 2' had disproportionately strong weekdays and is now 17,000 admissions away from dethroning 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' as the biggest Disney film ever. This would be its final milestone and it doesn't seem impossible, if it manages to have strong late legs from now on. Shyamalan's 'Trap' earned a humble second place and continues the pattern of duds that has characterised the once-prominent director. Have a look at his record below:

 

M. Night Shyamalan filmography
Rank	Title	Total admissions	Year
1	The Sixth Sense	490,000	1999
2	Signs	325,000	2002
3	The Village	306,300	2004
4	Unbreakable	220,000	2000
5	Split	135,542	2017
6	Glass	96,134	2019
7	The Last Airbender	49,337	2010
8	After Earth	45,635	2013
9	Knock at the Cabin	19,033	2023
10	Trap	17,699	2024
11	Old	12,794	2021

 

Note: No box office data available for 'Lady in the Water' (2006), 'The Happening' (2008) and 'The Visit' (2015).

 

Overall, 126,584 admissions were sold this weekend, significantly behind from the same time last year when 'Oppenheimer' opened to 110K admissions. Three films are vying for next week's second place, since 'Despicable Me 4' is almost certainly going to remain in the top spot:

• Science-fiction horror film 'Alien: Romulus'
• Thriller 'Haunted Heart'
• Romantic drama 'It Ends With Us'

Edited August 27 by Quigley

[Quigley]

Weekend: August 29-September 1, 2024

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	Despicable Me 4	48,349	-37.3%	202	-15	198,952	3
2	It Ends With Us	30,115	–	90	–	30,115	1
3	Alien: Romulus	12,904	–	60	–	12,904	1
4	Deadpool & Wolverine	7,344	-12.4%	43	-10	304,637	6
5	Trap	7,238	-59.1%	70	-57	35,759	2
6	Inside Out 2	2,785	+2.7%	31	-3	643,405	12
7	Haunted Heart	2,694	–	62	–	2,694	1
8	El maestro que prometió el mar [Spanish]	1,296	–	4	–	1,296	1
9	C'è ancora domani [Italian]	1,153	N/A	6	N/A	20,533	8
10	Anatomy of a Murder (1959, re-release)	N/A	N/A	3	0	N/A	2

 

Sources: https://flix.gr/news/box-office-29-08-2024.html

https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-despicable-me-4-keeps-the-top-spot/

 

'Despicable Me 4' threepeated at the top on another relatively busy weekend. It remains ahead of 'Minions 2' at the same point in its run, but the latter had really strong late legs, which the fourquel will have to match in order to reach the same dizzying heights (345K admissions). Despite being its third weekend, it is on par with 'Despicable Me 3's' second weekend and far ahead in terms of total admissions. All being considered, a total north of 300,000 admissions is pretty much guaranteed and that is already a huge success for the franchise, which doesn't seem to be suffering from any franchise fatigue at all. So far, the film ranks third among 2024 releases, only behind 'Inside Out 2' and 'Deadpool & Wolverine' (read further down for details on these two films).

 

Among newcomers, 'It Ends With Us' dominated the field, with 'Alien: Romulus' and 'Haunted Heart' being left in the mud. Its opening is reminiscent of late August 2022, when 'Where the Crawdads Sing' opened to 24.4K admissions. Unfortunately, the opening of 'It Ends With Us' is nowhere near other high-profile romantic dramas like the 'Fifty Shades' saga (50K+ admissions). As for 'Alien: Romulus', it opened even worse than the two most recent entries in the 'Alien' franchise, 'Prometheus' (33,605 admissions in 2012) and 'Alien: Covenant' (19,407 admissions in 2017).

 

Meanwhile, 'Deadpool & Wolverine' and 'Inside Out 2' both had phenomenal holds. The prior has now crossed the 300K-admission milestone, joining an elite group of comic-book films that includes 'Avengers', 'Batman' and 'Spider-Man' movies and 'Joker'. This is a list of the all-time Top 10:

 

All-Time Top 10 Comic-Book Films
Rank	Title	Opening weekend	Release date
1	Joker	906,958	Thu, Oct 3, 2019
2	Avengers: Endgame	538,330	Wed, Apr 24, 2019
3	Spider-Man: No Way Home	465,982	Thu, Dec 16, 2021
4	Spider-Man 2	387,476	Wed, Jul 7, 2004
5	Spider-Man 3	366,987	Thu, May 3, 2007
6	Avengers: Infinity War	363,487	Thu, Apr 26, 2018
7	The Dark Knight Rises	346,619	Tue, Aug 21, 2012
8	The Dark Knight	339,520	Thu, Jul 17, 2008
9	Spider-Man	330,000*	Sun, May 5, 2002
10	Deadpool & Wolverine	304,637	Thu, Jul 25, 2024

 

*Rough estimate - the final number may be higher.

 

As for 'Inside Out 2', it is steadily approaching 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' (655,639 admissions). With a couple more strong holds, it will beat it to become the biggest Disney film of all time in the country.

 

With two thirds of the year now behind us, 2024 is trailing 2023 by 2%. All hopes for a rebound lie with a number of high-profile franchise entries being released in the last quarter of the year. September however is likely to remain relatively quiet. 'Despicable Me 4' is in for another first-place finish next weekend thanks to a bunch of mid-range releases that are unlikely to make big ripples.

[Quigley]

Weekend: September 5-8, 2024

 

Rank	Title	Weekend admissions	% Change	Screen count / Change		Total admissions	Week
1	It Ends With Us	35,332	+17.3%	136	+46	90,246	2
2	Despicable Me 4	31,685	-34.5%	149	-53	260,326	4
3	Beetlejuice Beetlejuice	14,362	–	102	–	14,362	1
4	Strange Darling	6,525	–	44	–	6,525	1
5	Alien: Romulus	6,310	-51.1%	49	-11	26,495	2
6	Le comte de Monte-Cristo [French]	6,029	–	23	–	6,029	1
7	Deadpool & Wolverine	3,925	-46.6%	21	-22	313,631	7
8	Le procès Goldman [French]	3,844	–	11	–	3,844	1
9	Inside Out 2	3,225	+15.8%	38	+7	648,105	13
10	Trap	1,907	-73.7%	19	-51	41,370	3

 

Sources: https://freecinema.gr/greek-box-office-a-romance-novel-grabs-the-top-spot/

https://flix.gr/news/box-office-05-09-2024.html

 

There was significant upheaval last weekend, with romantic drama 'It Ends With Us' receiving a boost in screens and a consequent uptick in admissions that resulted in 'Despicable Me 4' losing first place as it dropped by 35%. Despite this, the Gru fourquel is enjoying a stellar performance. It is ahead of all previous films of the franchise at the same point in their run. Reaching the 300K-admission milestone is virtually guaranteed. Can it beat the franchise-best tally of 345K admissions, achieved by 'Minions 2'? It would require 35% weekly drops from now on to achieve that goal, which seems totally doable if you ask me. Either way, it's gonna become one of the Top 10 animated films of all time. As for the weekend winner, 'It Ends With Us' is well-positioned to reach 150K admissions and even flirt with the 200K-admission blockbuster milestone, unless it crumbles in the coming weeks.

 

Meanwhile, the 'Beetlejuice' sequel was totally irrelevant in the Greek market, similar to 'Alien: Romulus', which has been a complete dud. 'Deadpool & Wolverine' continued its impressive run with a respectable decline. It will end at around 325K admissions. Finally, 'Inside Out 2' cannot stop surprising us, with a second-consecutive weekend increase and a total that is days away from crossing 650K admissions.

Edited Tuesday at 09:38 PM by Quigley