‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Lives It Up With $60M Global Debut; ‘Eternals’ Leads Offshore Hollywood Weekend – International Box Office

Nancy Tartaglione
·5 min read
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UPDATE, writethru: There was a lot of holdover play this session overseas with one major new Hollywood addition in Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife which came in essentially on par with pre-weekend offshore projections at $16M in 31 international box office markets. However, with domestic’s overperformance, the Jason Reitman-directed sequel trapped a better-than-expected $60M global opening. In IMAX, the worldwide start was $4.7M.

In like-for-likes overseas, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is currently tracking ahead of Free Guy (+52%), Jungle Cruise (+26%) and Cruella (+94%).

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The UK claimed the top spot with a $5.8M start, and Mexico launched to $2.4M at No. 1 (222% over Free Guy, which is seen as a four-quadrant comp). Italy also debuted at No. 1 with $1.4M.

The Ghostbusters franchise is generally considered more of a domestic play (the 1984 original — when, I’ll admit it, I was 15 — was out before overseas was as impactful; and the 2016 reboot skewed to North America at 56% of the global box office). But with great audience exits domestically, and a fair bit of runway, there’s potential here. Sony hyped the movie for attendees at both Las Vegas’ CinemaCon and Barcelona’s CineEurope this summer. There are a number of markets to come including France and Korea (December 1), Russia and Spain (December 2), Australia (January 1) and Japan (February 4).

. - Credit: Marvel
. - Credit: Marvel

Marvel

The lead movie at overseas turnstiles for the studios this session was again Disney/Marvel’s Eternals, which passed the $300M global mark earlier this week, the fourth Dis film and ninth MPA film to do so this year. Over the current frame, it added $22.7M from 49 offshore markets. That lifts the overseas cume to $200.3M and worldwide to $336.1M. There were no new debuts in the frame, while the Chloé Zhao-directed superhero gods movie held the No. 1 spot in both Russia and Brazil, as well as UAE, Lebanon, Portugal, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, New Zealand and all other markets across Latin America with the exception of Mexico.

The overall drop was 53% from last weekend. Korea crossed $25M to lead all markets with a $25.2M cume to date. It’s followed by the UK ($17.3M), France ($13.7M), Mexico ($13.3M) and Brazil ($10.5M). In IMAX, the global cume is $24.4M.

. - Credit: MGM
. - Credit: MGM

MGM

As we reported yesterday, MGM/Eon/Universal’s No Time To Die has overtaken Uni’s F9 to become the biggest Hollywood grosser worldwide this year and of the pandemic overall. It is the No. 3 movie globally behind two local Chinese pics. The worldwide cume is now $734M for Mr Bond, with a split of $579.4M internationally and $154.6M domestic. Of the offshore number, Universal markets represent $483.1M. In total this session, NTTD added $13.4M from 72 combined overseas markets.

Australia, Germany, the UK, Netherlands and Japan had especially strong holds in the frame. Leading all play is the UK with a $128.5M cume, followed by Germany at $72.5M, China with $61M, France at $32.6M and Japan with $23M.

Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage scoffed down another $6.8M in 57 markets to reach $248.2M overseas and $454.7M global. Indonesia debuted as the clear No. 1 with $2M, besting Shang-Chi by 68% and No Time To Die by 94%. Upcoming key market releases include Australia (November 25) and Japan (December 3).

Warner Bros/Legendary’s Dune produced an estimated $4.6M from 75 markets for an international cume of $269M. Worldwide it is now at $367.1M with Australia and New Zealand still to come on December 2. Vietnam will be the final market to release on December 3. Currently, China is the top market at $38.8M, followed by France ($31.2M), the UK ($27.5M), Germany ($21.7M) and Russia ($21.2M).

. - Credit: Warner Bros
. - Credit: Warner Bros

Warner Bros

New this session, WB opened Will Smith-starrer King Richard in the UK and some smaller markets with $2.5M. The film is currently in just 22% of its offshore footprint. The UK served up $779K on 620 screens, 6% above The Father and 22% over Just Mercy. Saudi Arabia aced $354K from just 47 screens, well ahead of Just Mercy and Nomadland. Russia rallied to $260K from 508, above I, Tonya and Just Mercy.

Disney/Searchlight’s The French Dispatch is now at $18.8M internationally from 32 material markets. The weekend included an opening in Russia at No. 3 ($800K) and in Korea at No. 6 ($400K). Those are the best and second-best starts ever for a Wes Anderson film in the respective markets. The UK leads all play at $5M, followed by France ($3.1M), Germany ($1.9M) and Italy ($1.7M).

Elsewhere, China’s Be Somebody led local market play with a cume of RMB 386M ($60M) after two frames; it added $23.9M this weekend. The Battle At Lake Changjin is further closing in on Wolf Warrior 2’s record as the all-time champ in China, now with RMB 5.682B ($891M). WW2 finaled at RMB 5.689B.

Ridley Scott’s House Of Gucci starts overseas rollout this week along with Disney’s animated Encanto.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
The Addams Family 2 (UNI): $1.9M intl weekend (40 markets); $46.8M intl cume (Uni only); $110.8M global
Ron’s Gone Wrong (DIS): $1.6M intl weekend (33 markets); $35.5M intl cume/$57.6M global
Last Night In Soho (UNI): $1.46M intl weekend (54 markets); $9.6M intl cume/$19.5M global
The Vault (SNY): $1M intl weekend (Spain only); $2.9M Spain cume
Dear Evan Hansen (UNI): $680K intl weekend (6 markets); $2.1M intl cume/$17.1M global
Soshite Baton Wa Watasareta (WB): $1M intl weekend (Japan only); $9.5M Japan cume

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