Ok, ‘The Happening’ is a terrible movie, but taking the number one spot overseas is quite an accomplishment. M. Night Shyamalan’s movie made $32.1 million at 5,714 screens in 88 territories. That’s about $5,600 per screen. ‘The Incredible Hulk’ came in second, but managed to make almost $10,000 per screen at 38 markets.

The $32.1 million comes after Shyamalan’s awful box office result of ‘Lady in the Water’ in 2006. The fantasy only made $30 million overseas during its lifetime. It’s clear Fox’ aggressive marketing campaign paid off. The trailer with falling bodies gave people high hopes for his new thriller. It’s too bad this is one of those ‘the best is in the trailer’ movies and most will leave disappointed.

Europe was leading the ticket sales for ‘The Happening.’ France grossed a good $4.6 million, followed by Spain with $3.8 million. The U.K. brought in $3.4 million and several other countries ended the weekend with around $2 million.

Continue reading It’s Happening around the world, a look at the overseas box office

The impressive ‘Iron Man’ opening last month caused Marvel Entertainment’s stock to jump over 10% to settle the Monday after release with a 7.5% gain. But the mediocre ‘The Incredible Hulk’ opening did quite the opposite. Marvel stock began the day with an expected drop of about 5% to quickly regain its loss during the morning. Still, it didn’t manage to end above the previous close of $36.11. Marvel Entertainment ended the day with $35.69, a 1.16% drop.

Now all this can be explained by how bearish Wall Street was on ‘Iron Man.’ Not much can impress after a $100 million opening by the underdog. Analysts expected the stock to jump mildly if ‘The Incredible Hulk’ performed above $60 million, which it obviously didn’t. And you have to keep in mind Marvel’s stock already climbed from $26 in April, to where it is today.

Now I’m not a stock expert by any means, but I’d say now is not the best time to buy Marvel Entertainment stock.

Not much has changed since our last update a couple of hours ago. The final box office results are in line with what we expected. It was a soft start for ‘The Incredible Hulk.’ People still had the bad aftertaste from the first Hulk movie and the $150 million blockbuster didn’t manage to top $55 million. Now $54.5 million isn’t a bad start and it beats Marvel’s (low) expectations. But with a $100 million ‘Iron Man’ opening weekend last month, this number shouldn’t satisfy them. Especially since ‘Iron Man’ was cheaper and a lesser-known character. Marvel simply didn’t succeed in explaining why people should see the green faced Bruce Banner another time. Ang Lee’s ‘The Hulk’ grossed $62 million in its opening weekend.

Meanwhile, ‘The Happening’ gives a mixed picture. While some expected the thriller to end up in the low teens, $30.5 million is a decent number. Considering the $60 million budget, Fox might have wanted a little more. But they made a smart choice by releasing the B-movie worldwide from day one. Not including marketing and distribution, the $32 million overseas gross surprisingly makes M. Night Shyamalan’s work profitable from the first weekend. In this aspect, you could say Fox’ marketing for ‘The Happening’ was better than Universal’s for ‘The Incredible Hulk.’ While it still has to launch in about 25% of its markets, ‘The Incredible Hulk’ made just $31 million overseas.

Continue reading Final box office weekend estimates, ‘The Incredible Hulk’ tops with decent performance, ‘Kung Fu Panda’ second before ‘The Happening’