‘Indiana Jones 4′ can’t beat ‘Sex’ overseas
It’s the ultimate box office battle. The special effects male type driven ‘Indiana Jones 4′ against the pink chick flick ‘Sex and the City.’ Last weekend ‘Sex’ won, but this weekend Indy managed to beat ‘Sex and the City’ in the US. Internationally? Not so much. As in the US this weekend, it was a close call. ‘Sex’ grossed an estimated $38.1 million, while ‘Indiana Jones’ couldn’t get past $36 mill. But remember, ‘Sex and the City’ has yet to launch in some territories. Sex’ box office result came from 25 territories, while Indy’s came from 60.
‘Sex and the City’ now stand at $91.3 million overseas and will likely pass $200 million worldwide this Monday. It is turning out to be one of the most successful female driven movies of all time. Meanwhile, ‘Indiana Jones 4′ has an overseas total of $326 million, making a worldwide total of $580 million. It has now passed ‘Iron Man’ as the most successful movie of 2008 worldwide.
Just like in the US, ‘Kung Fu Panda’ had an impressive opening with $20.7 million in 9 markets. It was the best DreamWorks box office opening for all of these markets and did particularly well in Asian countries, probably because of Jackie Chan.
And don’t count ‘The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ out yet either. In our previous look at the overseas box office, we saw how it has yet to launch in the countries that are currently busy with the European Soccer Championship. And this weekend it still managed to make $20.3 mill in 28 territories. It definitely won’t make the $744 worldwide gross ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ made in 2005, but at least it has already grossed more than its $200 budget. I still think it was a bad choice to move ‘Prince Caspian’ from a winter to a summer release. It just doesn’t fit the movie.
Lastly, ‘You Don’t Mess With The Zohan’ made $2 million in just 2 territories, since Adam Sandler isn’t that big overseas. Most other markets will have to wait for the movie until August.
Notable is that ‘The Happening’ will release worldwide next week, while ‘The Incredible Hulk’ won’t. Paramount distributed Marvel’s ‘Iron Man’ worldwide from day one last month, but Universal can’t or won’t do the same for Marvel’s ‘The Incredible Hulk.’ This will cause the new Hulk to release in most European countries in the middle of the European Soccer Championship. Not the best timing for this typical male driven movie.
