‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ Climbs To $725M Global; ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ Rocks Towards $500M WW – International Box Office

Nancy Tartaglione

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UPDATE, writethru: Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker has climbed to $724.8M globally after 12 days in release. The split is $363M from the international box office and $361.8M domestic. This is after a $94.3M offshore weekend, which is above projections and reps just a 43% drop from the debut frame in 52 material markets. That’s vastly better than Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s sophomore hold, though that film had its second Sunday fall on Christmas Eve as we have noted previously. Either way, Skywalker has now closed the gap even further with The Last Jedi. It is 5% behind that movie internationally, and, if excluding China, is on par.

With this weekend’s grosses, Skywalker becomes the No. 10 global release of 2019 and the No. 7 release of the year domestically. It has $1B global in its tractor beam in January.

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The JJ Abrams-helmed film is still No. 1 in several markets including France, Germany, Spain the UK, Mexico and Japan. However, it faced off with Sony’s Jumanji: The Next Level in places like Australia and Italy where the Dwayne Johnson-starrer muscled in for No. 1 bows.

The Jake Kasdan-directed Jumanji sequel has now lifted to $296M overseas and $472M globally. Much as it gamed Star Wars: The Last Jedi as counterprogramming two years ago, this Jumanji is having a fine time against Skywalker with a $61.6M offshore weekend that is down just 1% in holdover markets. It overtook Star Wars’ Episode IX in eight of its 10 new openers, including Australia where The Rock & the gang launched to $9.6M (including previews), besting Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle by 43%. Italy debuted to $6.7M, which is 49% ahead of the Sony franchise’s prior installment.

Circling back to Disney, Frozen 2 has now become the 3rd biggest animated release ever worldwide with $1.218B. This weekend included record-breaking starts across Scandinavia; the already-opened international markets dropped overall by just 7% while many saw jumps. The offshore take this weekend was $42.2M. As with Jumanji, Frozen 2 still is due to debut in Brazil.

Disney’s inherited Spies In Disguise, from Blue Sky Studios, kicked off with $16M from 32 material markets for a $38.1M global gross so far.

Elsewhere, Lionsgate and MRC’s Knives Out has topped both the $100M international box office and $200M global benchmarks. Universal/Working Title’s Cats clawed its way to a $13.6M weekend as it stretched into 37 new markets. The offshore cume now outpaces domestic with $20.6M to date. That’s a global kitty of $38.4M. The UK leads, after its head-start last weekend, with $9.4M to date.

Sony’s Little Women also started limited overseas rollout this weekend in the UK and Spain, grossing a terrific $6.3M from 1,100 screens.

There’s a fair bit of runway ahead for all these pictures with no major wide day-and-date release until February’s Birds Of Prey. Sony’s Bad Boys For Life starts some international rollout on January 16, along with the expansion of Universal’s Doolittle which goes earlier in a small handful of overseas markets. The UK heats up this week with Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen on January 1 as well as Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit from Searchlight, followed by Sam Mendes’ 1917 from Universal next week. And, Chinese New Year kicks off on January 25 with the anticipated release of Detective Chinatown 3 among others.

Overall, comScore is reporting that global box office for 2019 is at $41B+, bolstered by an all-time high internationally of more than $30B. This year was certainly goosed by Disney’s record-breaking streak; in general, however, overseas remains the lifeblood of the theatrical business with growth in mature markets and a turnaround for Italy and Germany. It’s also notable that some of the biggest offshore grossers in 2019 got past $1B worldwide without needing China to get them over the mark. We’ll take a closer look at the full offshore picture from this year and what’s on deck for 2020 in the coming days.

In the meantime, breakdowns on this week’s films above and more have been updated below.

NEW
SPIES IN DISGUISE

Disney’s release of Blue Sky Studios’ animated Will Smith pic began limited rollout internationally with such majors as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Mexico in the opening suite along with some of SE Asia. The Fox comedy grossed $16M in 32 material markets overseas for a $38.1M worldwide cume. Domestic reviews and exits were largely positive while offshore the family film opened 18% above The Peanuts Movie and 16% over Ferdinand in like-for-likes and at today’s rates.

The Top 5 hubs so far are Mexico ($2.3M), France ($2.2M), UK ($1.9M), Germany ($1.2M) and Spain ($1M). This week adds Australia and China, notably, before rollout continues in Russia, Korea and Brazil next month. Japan gets into the spy game in May.

LITTLE WOMEN

Greta Gerwig’s awards contender marched out in limited international release this weekend, grossing a strong $6.3M from just the UK and Spain. Powered by 5-star reviews and great word of mouth, the UK debuted to $4.6M (including previews), which is 24% ahead of The Favourite. Spain launched to $1.6M, besting the opening of The Favourite by 54%. Upcoming key markets include Australia and France this week, followed by Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Germany and Russia later this month.

HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

The Resistance held very well in its second session, dropping just 43% across the 52 material overseas markets where it debuted last weekend. An additional $94.3M was above projections — comping to The Last Jedi at this point is a bit tricky given the release date configuration and the fact that movie had Christmas Eve as its sophomore Sunday. However, Skywalker is running closer to that previous installment, now at 5% behind — and even with it if excluding China where Star Wars just hasn’t caught on.

The overseas come is now $363M for $724.8M global and with Vietnam due to open this week, followed by Korea on January 8.

Kylo Ren & Co maintained the No. 1 spot in Austria, Belgium, Czech Rep, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, UK, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Trinidad, Uruguay, Japan and Indonesia.

Holding tight to the lightsabers were the Netherlands (-14%), Portugal (-17%), France (-19%), Germany (-19%), Italy (-20%), Croatia (-20%), Iceland (-21%), Denmark (-22%), Poland (-24%), Greece (-26%), Hungary (-28%), Austria (-29%), Belgium (-29%), Switzerland (-32%), UK (-34%), Finland (-35%), Sweden (-39%) and Japan (-40%).

In IMAX, the overseas come is now $29.2M and $35.8M worldwide.

Overall, Skywalker’s Top 5 markets to date are the UK ($51.4M), Germany ($44.1M), France ($34.7M), Japan ($29.2M) and Australia ($21.2M). China has still only mustered $17.4M so far, but that won’t matter much in the final tally. (Leading China again this weekend was Rogue One’s Donnie Yen in Ip Man 4 at a cume of $98.6M locally)

JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL

Sony/Seven Bucks/Matt Tolmach Productions’ sequel is having a great ride overseas, even if it may not match the previous title from 2017 when all is said and done. The global box office will soon surpass $500M (currently it’s $472M) and overseas is about to cross $300M (now at $296M).

This weekend was a terrific $61.6M offshore after strong mid-week business in the Christmas corridor. Holdover markets dropped just 1%. Rock on.

The gang overtook Skywalker in some key opening hubs including Australia ($9.6M including previews) and Italy ($6.7M), both over 40% bigger than Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle.

Among the best holds were France (+33%), Germany (+34%), UK (+20%), Spain (+4%), Belgium (+42%), Netherlands (+68%), Sweden (+45%), UAE (-31%), South Africa (+5%), Mexico (+3%), Malaysia (-29%), Singapore (-6%), Indonesia (-22%) and Hong Kong (-26%).

The Top 5 markets to date are China ($41M), UK ($27.9M), France ($18.3M), Russia ($14.6M) and Indonesia ($14.4M).

Brazil is still to open this week.

FROZEN 2

Disney’s animated sequel is now the 3rd biggest animated release of all time worldwide, having passed Minions this weekend with $1,217.6M globally. This 6th weekend notably saw record-breaking starts across Scandinavia including the highest opening weekend of all time (with previews) in Denmark ($4.9M) and Norway ($4.3M). It also posted the 4th biggest debut weekend ever in Finland ($2.6M) and Sweden ($5M).

With an additional $42.2M internationally, Frozen 2 has now grossed $796.3M offshore. The already opened international markets dropped overall by just 7% from last weekend with many seeing increases. Brazil and Argentina are still to bow.

Netherlands jumped 102%, followed by Belgium (+78%), Italy (+50%), Switzerland (+41%), Germany (+30%), Poland (+29%), France (+20%), Israel (+7%), Chile (+4%), Czech Rep (+3%), Hong Kong (+3%) and Japan (+2%). The UK dropped by just 3%.

The Top 5 hubs to date are China ($117.1M and with an extension to January 20), Korea ($93.8M), Japan ($87.4M), UK ($59.8M) and Germany ($50.5M).

CATS

Universal/Working Title’s Cats prowled to a $13.6M weekend as it clawed into 37 new markets. The offshore cume now outpaces domestic with $20.6M to date. That’s a global kitty of $38.4M. The UK leads after its early bow last weekend with $9.4M to date.

Korea, which had been tracking well, was the lead opener at $5M amid lots of local competition. The start came in ahead of Mary Poppins Returns, A Star Is Born, Into The Woods and Rocketman. Australia was the next best bow at $1.18M from 275 locations, and Germany also topped $1M at 630 sites. France went to the dogs with $215K from 283 to debut at No. 19 for the weekend. Still to come are Russia, Japan and Italy through February.

KNIVES OUT

With another $6M from 70 overseas markets this weekend, Lionsgate and MRC’s whodunnit has topped both the $100M international box office and $200M global benchmarks. The offshore cume is now $104.6M for $214.8M worldwide.

After five sessions, China remains the biggest overseas hub with $27.9M. Strong holiday holds were seen this frame in France (+50%), the UK (+29%) and Australia (+14%). There is still rollout to join the party with Germany this week and Japan later this month.

The Top 5 markets are rounded out behind China by the UK ($13.7M), Australia ($7.4M), France ($6.2M) and Russia ($5.1M).

Reviews, word of mouth and awards season buzz (including three Golden Globe noms) have helped boost the Rian Johnson-helmed pic take off as a fresh piece of IP in a crowded corridor.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLES
*Pinnochio (01): $5.3M intl weekend (Italy only); $5.3M intl cume
Last Christmas (UNI): $3.3M intl weekend (62 markets); $83.3M intl cume ($118.4M global)
The Addams Family (UNI): $2M intl weekend (32 markets); $83.7M intl cume ($100M with non-UPI markets/$198M global)
Black Christmas (UNI): $800K intl weekend (43 markets); $8.1M intl cume ($17.7M global)
*Denotes new

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