‘Captain Marvel’ Nears $500M Overseas; Lights Up $760M WW – International Box Office
UPDATE, writethru: Captain Marvel held her firm grip on the international box office this weekend, grossing an additional $119.7M from 54 overseas markets. That lifts the offshore cume to $494M and worldwide to $760.2M.
The Disney/Marvel tentpole has now surpassed the overseas lifetimes of several superhero pics including stablemates Ant-Man And The Wasp, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians Of The Galaxy 1 & 2, Doctor Strange and the first Captain America. She’s also overtaken DC pics Wonder Woman, Justice League and The Dark Knight.
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After 12 days of international play, the Brie Larson-starrer is the No. 17 superhero release ever and maintained the No. 1 position in nearly all overseas markets during the second frame. The $120M hold is a solid number considering the strength of last weekend’s opening. There was a moment during the midweeks where we exercized caution about frontloading as Carol Danvers seemed to ease up on the throttle. However, the sophomore session has softened skepticism around a $1B worldwide finish. The well-timed Avengers: Endgame trailer also provided a boost.
Japan was the final market to release, opening at $5.6M for the best first standalone MCU bow ever. This isn’t a massive Marvel hub, but it’s a strong start that lands 39% ahead of Black Panther and 9% above Doctor Strange. The IMAX Japan launch of $800K set a record on 30 screens as the format’s biggest March debut there of all time, besting Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. The total IMAX 2nd frame overseas was $7.4M, the 2nd best Marvel 2nd weekend ever. The China cume is $14.2M while all of international is at $33.5M and worldwide is $56M.
In China, CM dropped to 2nd place for the weekend, coming in behind Taiwanese entry More Than Blue. She nevertheless already has bragging rights as the 4th biggest MCU release ever behind only Avengers: Infinity War & Age Of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. The local drop was 73% this weekend, on par with Infinity War’s second outing. CM will likely wind up at around $150M in the market.
The Top 5 hubs to date are China ($132M), Korea ($36.5M), the UK ($30.9M), Brazil ($24.3M) and Mexico ($22.4M).
In non CM news, there were no major wide releases this weekend — and there won’t be any until Disney’ Dumbo pricks up his ears worldwide at the end of March (Universal’s Us will start rollout in some key majors next frame, though). In the meantime, Paramount opened Wonder Park in just 13% of its offshore footprint this session, hitting family-friendly Brazil as well as Indonesia and a handful of others.
In continued play, Oscar Best Picture winner Green Book is approaching $200M internationally.
Next Friday sees The Lego Movie 2 and Bohemian Rhapsody go to China. There were early screenings this weekend of the latter which will debut on March 22 as an arthouse release. I hear those previews went well, though the film faced a series of edits to comply with the censors. It does have great scores of 8.6 on Douban, 9.6 on Maoyan and 9.4 on Tiao Piao Piao In any case, anything Bo Rhap makes in China is icing with the four-time Academy Award laureate already at $879M worldwide.
Breakdowns on the films above and more have been updated below.
NEW
WONDER PARK
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Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon’s Wonder Park opened in its first 19 offshore markets this session, taking in $4.3M. This is just 13% of the international footprint on the long-gestating and critically-hammered animated pic.
Family-friendly Brazil was the best debut at $1.7M from 437 sites which was good for 2nd place. Indonesia was also a No. 2 start with $276K from 200 locations. Rollout continues through the rest of the month and into April, playing into Easter break in Mexico, Spain and the UK.
HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
CAPTAIN MARVEL
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With a strong -53% hold from her gigantic debut last session, Carol Danvers will pass $500M at the international box office early this week. The total for the weekend was $119.7M to lift offshore to $494M and worldwide to $760.2M. Any concern we had during the midweeks when she appeared to lose some steam has been eased.
We won’t have a clear picture on overseas exits until tomorrow, however, it’s possible that more women came out in the sophomore session as was the case domestically. We know that last frame the Marvel brand was the major Cap’M draw along with the wannasee factor of her origins story and how she connects to the MCU. Goose the cat was also very popular. This week, the Avengers: Endgame trailer, which generated over 268M views in the first 24 hours, became the No. 2 most watched in history behind only its teaser trailer. So, yeah, that probably helped.
As Anthony has reported, the global total propels CM past profitability in the theatrical window off total production and P&A costs of $300M. And, as noted above, the Brie Larson-starrer has topped several superhero cousins internationally to become the No. 17 title in the genre ever. Worldwide, where she’s the No. 22 superhero, she’s also bested the lifetime cumes of such pics as Ant-Man And The Wasp ($623M), Iron Man 2 ($624M), Thor: The Dark World ($645M), Justice League ($658M), Man Of Steel ($668M), Doctor Strange ($678M), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($709M), Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714M), Suicide Squad ($747M), X-Men: Days Of Future Past ($748M) and The Amazing Spider-Man ($758M).
In terms of offshore markets, play remains strong in Asia where the drop was 53% (outside China). The total for the area is $294M (that includes $132M out of the Middle Kingdom). Four markets have already flown this Marvel higher than Black Panther: China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. Notably in Indonesia, the Anna Boden/Ryan Fleck-helmed origins story is the No. 2 MCU title ever and the No. 4 biggest industry release of all time.
As for China, CM is the No. 4 best MCU entry ever, behind ensemble plays Avengers: Infinity War and Age Of Ultron, and Captain America: Civil War. The China cume should top out at around $150M. Overall, Chinese turnstiles are likely to account for about 15% of the global pie which can be considered good news since the bulk of the coin is coming from markets that pay a higher return than the Middle Kingdom’s 25%.
Japan was the final market to release, opening to a healthy $5.6M for the best first standalone MCU debut ever.
In Europe, the regional drop was 47%. The estimated gross to date of $125M means Captain Marvel has already surpassed titles such as Doctor Strange, Winter Soldier, Thor, Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Wonder Woman. The film has also shot past Black Panther in Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey. Latin America, which can lean heavily into DC, saw just a 48% drop to gross $75M thus far.
Here are the Top 10 markets: China ($132M), Korea ($36.5M), the UK ($30.9M), Brazil ($24.3M), Mexico ($22.4M), Australia ($18.5M), Indonesia ($16.1M), Russia ($16M), France ($14.6M) and Germany ($14M).
GREEN BOOK
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Still rolling along quite nicely, Participant Media/DreamWorks’ Oscar winner logged another $17.1M from 67 Lionsgate and Amblin markets this weekend. The combined offshore cume is now a fantastic $192M.
In 55 Lionsgate hubs, the Peter Farrelly pic added $5.2M for a running total of $77.9M. Japan crossed the $10M threshold after three weeks while in Denmark, GB is the top grossing movie of 2019 at $3.3M.
For Amblin, $11.92M in the current session brings the overseas total to $114M in 12 markets. The film contines to charm China, passing RMB 400M to overtake the lifetime of The Revenant. It has grossed $60.8M locally.
In Germany, GB is still No. 2 after seven weekends while the UK saw just a 30% drop this frame.
The Top 5 offshore markets are China ($60.8M), France ($12.6M), the UK ($11.8M), Germany ($11.6M) and Italy ($10.2M, tied with Japan).
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD
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The weekend for Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s threequel was worth $9.4M in 63 offshore markets. That takes the international cume to $330.9M and worldwide to $466.5M.
Israel got its first glimpse of the latest adventures of Hiccup and Toothless this session at No. 2 with $310K from 32 locations, up 42% on HTTYD2.
China still leads all play at $52.3M after a 67% drop in the 3rd frame. In Russia, HTTYD3 is the No. 5 animated title ever with $24.9M. Germany saw a slight 44% dip in weekend 6 and has now grossed $19.4M. The UK’s hold was just -25% in the 7th session for a total $24.1M. Still to come are India and Japan.
ESCAPE ROOM
Unlocking another $7.7M in 38 offshore markets, Sony’s thriller has now lifted its international cume to $85.3M. The debut in Korea was good for No. 2 at $3M while Spain bowed to $1M, also in 2nd place.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
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Alita: Battle Angel (FOX): $4M intl weekend (62 markets); $312M intl cume
The Mule (WB): $3.3M intl weekend (33 markets); $58.6M intl cume
What Men Want (PAR): $2.9M intl weekend (16 markets); $10.7M intl cume
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (WB): $2.1M intl weekend (65 markets); $70.1M intl cume
Bohemian Rhapsody (FOX): $1.7M intl weekend (32 markets); $664M intl cume
A Dog’s Way Home (SNY): $1.5M intl weekend (29 markets); $31M intl cume
Instant Family (PAR): $916K intl weekend (21 markets); $51.2M intl cume
Happy Death Day 2U (UNI): $600K intl weekend (46 markets); $35.7M intl cume
Mary Queen Of Scots (UNI): $400K intl weekend (20 markets); $27.3M intl cume
NEW LOCAL-LANGUAGE
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The China debut of Taiwanese romance pic More Than Blue, despite a 5.1 score on Douban, bested Captain Marvel in that film’s 2nd Middle Kingdom frame. Directed by Gavin Lin, it grossed an estimated $49M after originally being released in Korea and other parts of SE Asia late last year.
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