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

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.

Continue reading ‘Indiana Jones 4′ can’t beat ‘Sex’ overseas

Taking a look at the overseas box office, we see ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ doing well in its current territories. But Caspian’s rollout is spanning over two months, which seems old-fashioned for such a big movie.

Paramount released ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Indiana Jones 4′ simultaneous, why can’t Disney do the same? Well, while you can question why it didn’t release in Europe in May, Disney isn’t releasing ‘Prince Caspian’ there in June for a simple reason; the European Soccer Championship. A family movie wouldn’t stand a chance against the big event in Europe and that’s why Disney delayed it until July.

In the couple of territories it’s in, Caspian already took $80 million. But the fantasy will release in most Asian territories this week, with countries like the U.K., France and Germany following in July. A little earlier in the U.K. and France, because Disney probably doesn’t expect them to make the Soccer Championship’s finals — just kidding guys (if you come from one of these countries).

Continue reading Why ‘Prince Caspian’ still didn’t visit Europe, a look at the overseas box office

‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ was left in the cold this weekend. Indy 4 got all the fame and only a couple of people got lost and went to ‘Prince Caspian’ by accident. It all started with a disappointing opening last weekend. The Disney picture only made $55 million, while everybody expected a bigger opening for the $200 million fantasy project. And how much did last weekend bring in for Aslan and his gang? Less than $23 million, a drop of almost 60%.

Continue reading ‘Prince Caspian,’ the box office story

‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ is not only doing good numbers domestically, it’s doing even better outside the U.S. Dr. Henry Jones made an estimated $143 million internationally. Added to the $126 million reported in the U.S., the adventurer has already made $269 million worldwide. Something for which you can take your hat off, I’d say. It is the sixth best international opening of all time. Here is the are the numbers for the international top 5 during the four day period:

United Kingdom: $21.5 million
Germany: $12.6 million
Spain: $11.7 million
South Korea: $10 million
Australia: $9 million

I initially doubted Indy’s box office power and buzz, but the numbers prove he can still do it. The $143 million was taken from 12,000 screens in more than 8,300 locations and 56 markets. Another well deployed distribution by Paramount Pictures International, after last month’s ‘Iron Man.’

Hillary Swank’s ‘P.S. I Love You’ made some impact at the DVD stores last week. The $30 million romance made over $140 million at the box office worldwide and is now coming in at number one for DVD rentals and sales. ‘P.S. I Love You’ made $7.2 million in rentals, followed by ‘27 Dresses’ with another $6.1 million and ‘First Sunday’ with $5.6 million. Ice Cube’s ‘First Sunday’ was only successful in the US and made a little under $40 million at the box office.

The total for ‘27 Dresses’ now stands at $13.4 million in rentals and is holding up well against ‘The Golden Compass,’ which made another $5.3 million. ‘Twister’ came in as the number one ‘Blu-ray,’ where ‘The Golden Compass’ came in second.

When we said the weekend box office numbers for ‘Speed Racer’ might have been a little too high, we didn’t expect even lower numbers to be released. But the Warner Bros. employees responsible for the hippie colored movie must be crying in the corner at this point. The ‘official’ weekend counter came no further than $18.6 million. A difference of $1.6 million with earlier estimates.

It makes for a total of just $31.1 million worldwide. With another family title next weekend (’Prince Caspian’), will it even be possible to gross over $100 million worldwide? Or is ‘Speed Racer’ getting ready to take a spot in the book of biggest box office failures ever, considering the total costs (budget, marketing, promotional deals) may even exceed $350 million.

‘Iron Man’ has such a dominating personality. He stayed on top in the US and he’s not letting go overseas either. The box office hit made another $39 million this weekend in 61 territories. ‘What Happens In Vegas’ made the second place with $23 million in 36 markets and ‘Speed Racer’ had an amazingly slow weekend with only $12.8 million in 30 territories. It only took the first place in South Korea with $2.4 million.

Continue reading ‘Speed Racer’ burns at overseas box office

Yes, we’re not yet shutting up about ‘Iron Man.’ Give us another five to ten posts before the hype is over.

If you thought the US was the only country all over ‘Iron Man,’ you couldn’t be more wrong. Robert Downey Jr. is getting ready to dominate the whole world. The last three days Paramount Pictures International launched the movie in, well, pretty much everywhere. Argentina, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Mexico, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Russia and the list goes on. The only important country that’s not getting the Marvel movie right now is Japan, which is less into the testosterone-driven type of entertainment.

Expect some worldwide estimates to hit early next week.

[update]
The word is Jon Favreau and the gang did $30 million overseas on Wednesday and Thursday. This might be an even bigger hit outside the US!