‘Free Guy’ Flies To $100M+ Overseas With China Assist, Global Now $180M – International Box Office

Nancy Tartaglione

August 29, 2021 at 12:30 PM·10 min read

UPDATE, writethru: One of the only Hollywood titles to recently be granted a China release date, Disney/20th Century Studios’ Free Guy flew into the market with a No. 1 $23.9M start. This is a solid launch in the Middle Kingdom, particularly in the current climate, and helped push the Ryan Reynolds-starrer past $100M at the international box office. The full offshore weekend was $37.3M in 47 markets, a slight 23% drop from last session, and the total overseas cume is now $100.3M for $179.6M global.

We’re seeing strong word of mouth continue to propel this original IP from director Shawn Levy. Notably in China, there were daily increases throughout the weekend. The film has a 7.8 from critics on Douban and a 9.1 from moviegoers on Maoyan. The latter on Sunday upped its full-run projection in China to RMB 491M ($76M). Free Guy currently leads pre-sales in the market through Thursday this coming week. About 20% of sites are still closed in China.

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Elsewhere, Free Guy is still No. 1 in the UK, Australia, Brazil and Mexico. In Germany, it got a 10% bump, despite last Monday’s introduction of the health pass requirement.

The IMAX portion of Free Guy’s overseas haul is now $7.9M for $12M global. Of that, $3.8M is from China with a terrific 16% of the nationwide total from only 1% of screens.

Paramount’s Paw Patrol: The Movie collared another $10.3M from 46 markets this session, good for a drop of just 30%. This takes the offshore cume to $37.8M and global to $61.9M.

As noted earlier this week from our perch at CinemaCon, Universal’s F9 crossed $700M global on Wednesday, making it the only Hollywood title to the mark in 2020 and 2021. The worldwide gross through Sunday is $704.24M. Two other pictures hit milestones this weekend with Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby: Family Business topping $100M worldwide and Warner Bros/DC’s The Suicide Squad moving past $100M international.

In new play, Universal/MGM/Monkeypaw’s Candyman opened in 51 international markets this weekend with $5.23M (that reps UPI and MGM markets combined). The global total along with domestic’s No. 1 start is $27.6M. The best overseas starts were the UK, Spain, Mexico, Russia and Germany.

Regarding the situation overall internationally: France, Italy and Germany require health passes (or a recent negative Covid test) to attend cinemas; 65% of Australia’s box office is locked down and New Zealand is entirely shut; Japan has restricted hours and capacity limits in 90% of the market; Korea still has Level 4 restrictions in place and all of South East Asia (save Singapore) is still closed.

This coming Wednesday (September 1), Disney/Marvel’s anticipated Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings begins global rollout starting in France, Korea and Italy.

Breakdowns on this week’s films above and more have been updated below.

NEW
CANDYMAN

From Universal/MGM/Monkeypaw, Nia DaCosta’s horror title released in 36 UPI markets and 15 MGM markets overseas. Combined, the weekend was worth $5.23M for an early global cume of $27.6M. The UK led play with a No. 2 $1.48M start from 605 locations; higher than Old, double Spiral and more than three times Don’t Breathe 2. Spain sprinkled Candyman with $356K from 320, 57% ahead of fellow new opener Reminiscence.

Co-written and produced by Jordan Peele, Candyman stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris and Colman Domingo. Future key markets include Korea, France and Japan.

HOLDOVERS
FREE GUY

While Free Guy’s Friday opening in China portended a weekend in the $18M+ range, the film ended up outperforming that with daily increases (+71% on Saturday, then +7% on Sunday). The total in the Middle Kingdom, where local pics have ruled the day for two months, was $23.9M for the FSS. That’s a solid start, although there will be some local competition ahead. For the moment, we are still waiting on news of other release dates for Hollywood in the market — including next week’s global opener Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.

The total weekend as noted above was $37.3M in 47 overseas markets, a 23% dip in the holdovers. The full offshore cume is now $100.3M for $179.6M global.

Mid-weeks overseas showed strong playability (Mon-Thurs was 74% of the previous weekend’s FSS) and, interestingly, while France and Italy were hampered by the introduction of the health pass requirement in recent weeks, Germany saw a 10% bump on Free Guy this weekend, even with the new regulation. Also seeing increases were Sweden and Austria.

Drops include Taiwan (-4%), UAE (-5%), Switzerland (-6%), Belgium (-9%), Czech Rep (-12%), Singapore (-12%), Hungary (-15%), France (-16%), Australia (-19%), Brazil (-19%), Poland (-21%), Netherlands (-21%), Mexico (-22%), Panama (-22%), Israel (-23%), Saudi Arabia (-23%), Russia (-25%), Italy (-25%), Ukraine (-31%), UK (-32%), Hong Kong (-33%), Norway (-35%), Spain (-38%), Korea (-38%) and Japan (-41%).

Free Guy is still No. 1 in the UK, Australia, Mexico and Brazil as well as Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, Singapore, Colombia, Central America and Ecuador.

The Top 5 overseas markets are China ($23.9M), UK ($14.4M), Russia ($8.5M), France ($4M) and Germany ($3.5M).

PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE

Paramount

Paramount/Nickelodeon/Spin Master’s pups fetched another $10.3M in 46 markets during the weekend to lift the international cume to $37.8M in 85% of the offshore footprint. Positive word of mouth helped the drop to come in at just 30%.

In new openings, Russia gave the troupe a No. 3 start with $770K at 1,220 locations; Spain was a No. 1 launch with $590K from 352. Also debuting to No. 1 were Argentina and Chile.

Germany had a great 11% dip while France was down 29%. The top markets to date are the UK with $7.9M, France at $6.9M and Germany at $6.1M.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE

The Suicide Squad (WB): $4.6M intl weekend (73 markets); $101.8M intl cume/$154.6M global
The Boss Baby: Family Business (UNI): $4.5M intl weekend (30 markets); $43.5M intl cume/$100.3M global
Reminiscence (WB): $3.7M intl weekend (66 markets); $7.3M intl cume/$10.8M global
F9 (UNI): $3.6M intl weekend (65 markets); $531.5M intl cume/$704.24M global
Jungle Cruise (DIS): $2.7M intl weekend (49 markets); $86.9M intl cume/$187M global
Luca (DIS): $2.5M intl weekend ($2.2M from China); $43M intl cume
Old (UNI): $1.64M intl weekend (57 markets); $38M intl cume/$84.5M global
Don’t Breathe 2 (SNY): $1.6M intl weekend (28 markets); $10.7M intl cume/$35.28M global
Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions (SNY): $1.4M intl weekend (29 markets); $19.7M intl cume/$44.9M
Space Jam: A New Legacy (WB): $1.1M intl weekend (66 markets); $82.3M intl cume/$152.1M global
Me Contro Te – Il Mistero Della Scuola (WB): $939K intl weekend (Italy only); $2.7M intl cume
A Quiet Place Part II (PAR): $527K intl weekend (10 markets); $136.7M intl cume
Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins (PAR): $176K intl weekend (4 markets); $9.3M intl cume

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