‘War For The Planet Of The Apes’ Marshals $46M In Bow; ‘Spider-Man’ Rises To $261M Overseas – International Box Office
UPDATE, WRITETHRU: There were a number of major movies swinging through the international box office this weekend, making for an especially competitive environment. They include Fox’s newcomer War For The Planet Of The Apes, Illumination/Universal’s continuing Despicable Me 3 and last frame’s Sony debut, Spider-Man: Homecoming. The latter leads the session with $72.3M in 63 markets — narrowly topping DM3‘s $71M — while the third pic in the Apes series came in at $46M across 61 (only two majors). The global cume on that picture is off to a $102.5M start through today.
While the international tally on WFTPOTA falls at the lower end of pre-weekend industry predictions, the film is out in less than a third of the marketplace from a box office standpoint with several majors to come. Already, the opening is 61% bigger than Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes in the same markets and at current exchange rates. It’s about on par with Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes at less than 5% off, which, given the landscape and very limited sample size, is still solid. Apes should turn out to be more of a marathon runner than a sprinter.
Standing up as the best opening of the franchise in 28 hubs, the Matt Reeves-directed movie from Chernin Entertainment, was led by the UK’s $9.5M on 1,527 screens. Historically, the biggest markets for the series are a mix of China, the UK, France, Korea, Mexico and Spain. Most of those come later in the run and should be bolstered by great word of mouth.
Elsewhere, Spidey was hanging out in 63 overseas markets, adding $72.3M to bring the offshore cume to $261.1M. The Sony/Marvel superhero reboot has snared Korea in its web with the local cume now $42.2M, to make it the biggest franchise entry ever and the market’s top U.S. release of the year.
Also of note, Illumination/Universal’s Despicable Me 3 added an estimated $71M this frame to zoom past $400M international and $600M worldwide. Gru and Dru have been well-abetted by China where DM3 is the last Hollywood movie to have made it in as the summer box office blackout takes hold. With over $113M there, it is already the No. 2 imported animated film ever and the No. 4 animated movie, period.
Meanwhile, Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales crossed $750M worldwide in the session. Its $581.5M overseas makes POTC5 the No. 3 film of the year in international release.
Further, this was the first weekend of China‘s unofficial blackout period which is expected to run until about mid- to late-August. Hollywood movies have dominated Middle Kingdom turnstiles over the first half of the year and China could use some homegrown hits if it’s to swing the balance as in years past.
Coming up elsewhere this week, Warner Bros’ Christopher Nolan-directed WWII epic Dunkirk will begin offshore rollout in such majors as the UK, France, Russia and Korea. It also debuts on 636 IMAX screens in 43 markets, globally. Dunkirk was shot with IMAX film cameras and its theatrical run includes numerous iconic 15/70MM IMAX sites around the world. Nolan premiered it in London last week. Also beginning its run overseas this week is Luc Besson’s Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets in Germany and some smaller plays.
Breakdowns on the above and other titles have been updated below.
NEW
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
With a debut of $46M at the international box office, Fox’s War For The Planet Of The Apes pounded out a franchise-best start in 28 out of 61 markets. And, it’s only planted about a third of its overseas footprint so far. The opening weekend is 61% bigger than Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, and on par with Dawn (less than 5% off) in the same bucket of countries and at current exchange rates.
The UK ($9.5M, including previews) led all play this weekend. A strong No. 1 debut was 26% bigger than Rise and -15% on Dawn. Russia was the next best opening at No. 1 with $5M, followed by Spain with $34M.
There is much play to come on the Matt Reeves-helmed Andy Serkis/Woody Harrelson-starrer. That includes China, Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.
War has been a difficult one to comp offshore given the pattern and strategy are different this time around versus Dawn and Rise. That’s part of why industry projections had it a touch higher ahead of the weekend — there was also consideration for the emerging South East Asian markets. WFTPOTA performed well there, but did not over-index as some others have recently. The webslinger also proved competition this session in general, which was to be expected. In 2014, conversely, Dawn was facing Transformers: Age Of Extinction which was in its 3rd frame after dropping in the 2nd.
This terrifically-reviewed threequel is expected to ultimately get up to the Dawn range which finaled at $502M internationally (non-restated), led by China, the UK, France, Korea and Mexico. Rise rose to $305M, also at historical rates, with the UK, China, Korea, France and Spain holding the Top 5 slots.
The cerebral series is unlike other summer popcorn fare and is not expected to be frontloaded abroad. A decision to let word of mouth do its job should also see these Apes swing out nicely.
HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
With another $72.3M in its offshore web, Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming has swung to a $261.1M cume in 63 markets.
Korea is over-indexing with a No. 1 hold and a further $11.9M to take the local haul to $42.2M. The Jon Watts-helmed reboot is now the top Spider-Man movie in that market and the biggest Hollywood release of the year there.
In Brazil and Mexico, Spidey was No. 1 again, dropping by 44% across the Latin America region. Brazil’s 2nd session was worth $5.7M from 1,385 screens, off 38%, for a cume of $19.4M. That’s also a record for the franchise as the biggest Spider-Man movie ever. Mexico now has $20.4M in Peter Parker’s locker as families embrace the new take.
In new swings, France debuted at No. 1 with $6M, and Germany opened at No. 2 (behind Despicable Me 3) to $3.7M (including previews). The UK cume is $21.9M. Australia now has caught $14.5M.
Markets still to release include Belgium, Spain, Japan, and China. In IMAX, the global total is $30M.
DESPICABLE ME 3
Racing around the globe, Illumination/Universal’s threequel has crossed $400M overseas with a weekend estimate of $71M in 61 markets. That lifts the cume so far to $431.4M abroad, and $619.4M worldwide. Indonesia was a new play this frame with the biggest opening day and weekend ever for an animated movie at $3.6M.
After last session’s record China bow, DM3 is already the 4th biggest grossing animated movie ever in the Middle Kingdom, and the 2nd best non-Chinese animated title, behind Zootopia. With the blackout now in full swing, and DM3 the only Hollywood movie playing in these first weeks, the weekend was worth $20.8M at No. 2 behind fantasy pic Wukong. The total there is $113.6M.
For the 3rd weekend in a row, DM3 is No. 1 in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Portugal, Uruguay and Venezuela. Germany and Austria are holding No. 1 for the 2nd week in a row ahead of the opening of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Beyond China, market leaders are the UK ($33.2M), Mexico ($28.4M), Brazil ($25.8M) and Australia ($22.5M). Japan, Korea, Italy and more are still on deck.
CARS 3
Disney/Pixar’s threequel revved its engines in a wider release this weekend, adding $20.1M in 33 material markets. New plays included Spain, the UK, Korea, Japan and Brazil. The international cume is now $82.9M for $222.9M global.
The UK opened to an estimated $3.5M, which is narrowly behind the previous films, both of which had played during full holiday periods. Only about 25% of the UK is on holiday right now. Spain opened to an estimated $1.8M.
Japan was a No. 2 bow for a Western movie at $2.8M. The opening is just 24% behind the launch of Inside Out. Korea raced off with $1.9M, placing it at No. 2 for the weekend behind Spidey. The opening is 32% ahead of Cars 2 and 86% ahead of Cars.
Brazil came in at $3.3M or 5% off Cars 2, and Argentina posted $2.1M, 32% ahead of Cars in admissions.
In holds, Lightning McQueen burned off 39% in Australia, but doubled last weekend in New Zealand. Mexico is the lead market at $15.3M, followed by Russia ($10.3M), Australia ($8.7M), Poland ($3.6M) and the UK ($3.5M). In the latter, star Owen Wilson attended today’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix along with director Brian Fee and producer Kevin Reher. World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who won today’s race at Silverstone, is also in this film to reprise his role as Hamilton, a fully loaded, built-in voice command assistant.
There are still some majors to come including France. China has given Cars 3 an August 25 release date.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES
Disney’s 5th Pirates movie has now crossed the $750M mark at the global box office, buoying to $751.5M. With $581.5M internationally, it’s the No. 3 overseas release of the year behind only The Fate Of The Furious and Beauty And The Beast. The weekend was worth $7.5M in 34 markets.
Notable this frame, it held the No. 1 spot in Japan for a 3rd weekend and for a total $33.9M to date. Holds in Europe are strong, particularly in the following: Netherlands (-4%), Germany (-6%), Belgium (-18%) and France (-32%).
TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT
Wrapping its China run, Paramount’s The Last Knight has cumed $225M, widely off from the previous installment and as the summer blackout descends. The total weekend in 48 markets was $6.7M for an international cume of $392.4M. Further updated cumes include $9.8M in France and $13.8M in Germany.
Still on deck are key plays like Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Japan.
BABY DRIVER
TriStar and MRC’s Ansel Elgort-starrer cruised to another $6.2M in 18 markets this weekend for a cume of $23.1M overseas. Holdover business remains strong across Europe with the UK dropping just 26% and the Netherlands just 14%. The Edgar Wright-helmed pic sped off in Australia with $3.7M (including previews) from 412 screens, which is 13% ahead of comp Now You See Me.
WONDER WOMAN
Warner Bros/DC’s Diana Prince cuffed another $3.3M this weekend on roughly 3,000 screens in a total of 61 markets. The offshore cume is now $384.2M for a worldwide evil-fighting haul of $764.9M. Top plays are: China ($89M), Brazil ($32.7M), the UK ($27.6M), Australia ($22.6M) and Mexico ($22.4M). Japan opens August 25.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Baywatch (PAR): $2.8M intl weekend (45 markets); $106.8M intl cume
The Mummy (UNI): $2M intl weekend (69 markets); $310.7M intl cume
The Beguiled (UNI): $1.3M intl weekend (10 markets); $2.4M intl cume
LOCAL-LANGUAGE
New Classics’ Chinese title Wukong, directed by Chi-kin Kwok and starring Eddie Peng and Shawn Yue, made $53M-$55M this weekend including $3.2M from 422 IMAX screens in the Middle Kingdom. The numbers are unofficial at this point, but this is the first local PROC pic to kick off the summer blackout in earnest. Despicable Me 3 was No. 2 there, followed by animated title Da Hu Fa with $4.5M.
Also among the local titles soon coming into the market are big-budget war movies The Founding Of An Army and Wolf Warriors II, and TV adaptations The Legend Of Naga Pearls and Once Upon A Time. Disney’s Cars 3 now has an August 25 date with other Hollywood fare like Spider-Man: Homecoming and War For The Planet Of The Apes awaiting scheduling. Warner Bros’ Dunkirk from Christopher Nolan has a reported September 1 slot.
WB’s Gintama opened this frame in Japan to $6.3M from 353 screens, ranking No. 2 by a narrow margin. The live-action comedy based on the manga more than doubled opening weekend grosses for the animated Gintama and surpassed Gintama 2 by 90%. It was also 35% ahead of WB’s hit Rurouni Kenshin.
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