‘TMNT 2’ Powers Up $33M In Debut; ‘Warcraft’ Jumps To $69.6M Cume; ‘X-Men’ Crosses $400M WW – Intl B.O. Final
UPDATE, WRITETHRU Final Monday, 2:30 PM: There was a hodgepodge of action movies at the international box office this weekend as debut films muscled in and holdovers found new rewards to reap. In the latter category, it’s Fox’s X-Men: Apocalypse which is No. 1 overseas for the frame coming off a muscular $59.5M start in China — the second-highest Middle Kingdom opening-weekend ever for the studio — and a full session of $84.4M. The international total is $286.1M; the global cume is $401M+.
The Monday updates were done by Anita Busch.
The biggest launch was Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows, which led among offshore bows with $33M in 40 territories. That’s 11% below 2014’s TMNT which opened later in the summer, when 65% of markets were off for school holidays versus 31% this weekend.
Of the 40 debuts, 21 were No. 1 plays, including such key markets as Russia and Mexico. Notably, however, Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael, with previews included, found themselves outplayed by the Orcs of Legendary/Universal’s Warcraft in the UK. Overall, the fantasy video game adaptation captured $29.5M in its 2nd session to take the cume to $70M and with an expected huge China debut looming.
The Warner Bros release of Me Before You tearjerked a better than esimated $8.2M from audiences in 16 markets. That film, along with TMNT 2 and others, has its eye on the counterprogramming goal over the next several weeks as Euro 2016 soccer action kicks into gear on Friday.
In other highlights, Disney’s Alice Through The Looking Glass added $30.3M in its sophomore turn for an overseas cume of $125M. And, Zootopia crossed the $1B mark at the global box office. Meanwhile, scroll down to check out that a** on Deadpool in Japan.
Imax screens collected a worldwide weekend of $12.5M from an assortment of titles across the network. In China, X-Men: Apocalypse took $6.3M on 286 screens for the best Fox start ever and the 3rd best weekend for the format in June. The Imax XMA offshore total is $14.3M. Warcraft added $1.8M on 130 Imax screens, for an overseas cume of $4.3M. Next week, it hits 750+ Imax screens in North America, China and elsewhere.
Breakdowns have been updated below. More to come…
NEW
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
The heroes on the half-shell returned to international play just two years after Paramount’s reboot. They did so with a $33M start in 40 markets. That’s 11% off TMNT‘s bow in 2014, which came later in the summer and during a period that had a higher ratio of schools on break. Going earlier this time afforded Paramount a window ahead of summer behemoths that similarly skew to young boys. It also sets the re-team of Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael as family counterprogramming to the Euro 2016 soccer action that’s on deck next week. Domestically, the film received an A- CinemaScore with 40% of the audience under 18.
The Turtles, directed by David Green, took on Shredder and the notorious Krang in such key plays as the UK, Russia and Mexico. They scored 22 out of 40 possible No. 1s. Although the UK bowed at No. 2, it was the lead market with $5.1M at 859 locations. Russia was good for No. 1 with $4.8M from 1,262, 11% below Angry Birds and 23% below TMNT at today’s exchange rates (schools are not on holiday in Russia this time around). Mexico’s No. 1 launch grossed $4.5M at 702 locations, 52% above Angry Birds and on par with TMNT (same sitch re school breaks).
China, which was the lead market for TMNT in 2014, opens on July 2 as the last Hollywood movie ahead of the unofficial blackout period. Asian plays to already perform strongly include Indonesia in first place with $2.1M from 220 cinemas; 48% above TMNT and with kids still in school. Malaysia likewise opened tops with $2.1M at 137 sites, 48% above TMNT. The Michael Bay produced $135M pic continues to roll out through June, July and August.
ME BEFORE YOU
Opening in 16 overseas markets, MGM/New Line’s romance Me Before You grossed a higher than predicted $8.2M (up from the Sunday estimate of $7.7M as its screen count was up about 100 more than previously thought) in its first outing on 1,858 screens. The Warner Bros release took the top spot in the UK for the FSS — this does not include sneaks which Universal and Paramount are factoring in for Warcraft and TMNT 2, respectively. The UK box office for the adaptation of Jojo Moyes’ weepy novel was $2.6M. Norway was also a No. 1 start with $759K. In Korea, where male- and older-skewing fare is leading the way, Me Before You picked up a good $1.7M. That bested comps like The Fault In Our Stars, Dear John and If I Stay. Thailand and Malaysia also topped its predecessors.
Game Of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke stars as a small town girl who falls for the recently paralyzed man (Sam Claflin) she is caring for. Directed by Thea Sharrock, it’s faced some backlash from the disabled community, although the film received an A CinemaScore domestically and grossed about $18.3M in its North American debut this frame. The offshore rollout will look to capitalize as counterprogramming during the upcoming Euro 2016 soccer tournament which kicks off on June 10 and runs through mid-July. This is a similar sweet spot to 2014’s The Fault In Our Stars which was the sleeper hit of the summer, serving as the perfect antidote to the World Cup for non-soccer fans. That’s a tough act to follow, but with the lack of action on Alice Through The Looking Glass, it has the space pretty much all to itself over the coming weeks.
The next major markets to open include Australia and Brazil on June 16 and Germany on June 23. The key overseas plays for films of this ilk are generally the English-speaking markets along with Germany. Brazil, however, was tops on TFIOS when the it hosted the World Cup.
HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
With a $59.5M start in China, Fox’s XMA grabbed the 2nd highest opening weekend ever for the studio, coming in behind the Titanic re-release. It was also the top IMAX Fox debut ever in the market. The Middle Kingdom bow is 62% bigger than Days Of Future Past and 7% over Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. Overall, the mutants landed $84.4M in the 3rd offshore frame to claim bragging rights to No. 1. In 78 markets, XMA’s overseas total is $286.19M.
Holds were solid in Korea ($4.48M/$18M cume); Brazil ($1.8M/$15.69M); the UK ($1.8M/$22.7M); France ($1.86M/$12.8M); Mexico ($1.4M/$17M); Australia ($1.17M/$9.9M); and Germany ($1M/$7.2M). Japan is the final release on August 11.
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Dropping just over 50% from its lackluster debut last week, the Disney sequel added France and Hungary to its roster of markets, and $30.3M for the weekend. The offshore total is now $125M for a global cume of $176.3M. Now in 45 material territories, that’s good for 74% of the overseas footprint.
France opened to $3M, No. 2 behind local comedy Retour Chez Ma Mere ($3.7M), and 4% behind Cinderella last year. China remains far and away the top play with a $6.5M weekend and a total of $49.1M after 10 days of release. That bests the entire Middle Kingdom run of Maleficent. Europe saw good holds with a regional drop-off of 31%. Especially strong was Italy (-6%) and still No. 1. In the UK, Alice was No. 1 during the week, trailing off 41% for the weekend. In Argentina, she stuck the top spot above X-Men and TMNT 2. Much of Asia has yet to bow with Japan (July 1) the next big market to go down the rabbit hole. Korea opens in September.
Behind China, the top cumes are the UK’s $10.2M, Mexico’s $8.9M, Russia’s $7.5M and Brazil’s $6.7M.
WARCRAFT
The acolytes of Azeroth have united to lift Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures’ Warcraft to a better than projected$29.5M this weekend. That takes the cume to $69.6M after two frames. The Duncan Jones-helmed adaptation of Blizzard’s video game franchise opened in eight more markets this weekend to bring the total to 28. The IMAX count is $1.8M on 130 screens for a $4.3M total to date.
As noted yesterday, there were seven new No. 1s, although the UK comes with an asterisk. Play started on Monday with previews that blasted Warcraft to No. 1 — there was subsequently slippage during the holiday week. The full run including the official FSS is $5.3M which puts slightly ahead of TMNT2 to be No. 1 for the weekend when comparing orcs-to-turtles: TMNT2 also started previews Monday.
Brazil had a good No. 1 opening with $2.6M and 32% market. Spain came in next with a No. 1 of $2.5M and 41% of the market. Italy bowed at No. 2 with $2.1M. In other openings, Turkey grossed $952K to give Universal its third best debut in the market. The Netherlands ($844K), Belgium ($667K) and Serbia & Montenegro ($196K) also scored No. 1 starts.
Germany ($3M) held the No. 1 spot for the 2nd frame with an 11-day total of $9.9M; Russia ($3.8M) was No. 2 this week and lifted the total to $17.3M. France ($2.6M) held at No. 3 with $7.9M total in 12 days.
Warcraft has 37 more territories to open over the next two months. China is the one to watch next weekend where pre-sales are through the roof and the marketing machine has been in full swing. The rare pre-U.S. debut for a big Hollywood movie gets it out as high school exams end and the Dragon Boat Festival holiday begins, giving it what one person suggests is like having “five Satudays in a row.” The Middle Kingdom is the world’s biggest gaming market and Warcraft is looking at an Orc-sized start for Legendary there where it releases through China Film Group and Huaxia.
THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE
As it pecks its way towards $200M overseas, Sony’s mobile game franchise adaptation added a total $16.4M from over 10,500 screens in 88 markets. After four rounds at the international box office, the cume is $196.8M. It will fly past $200M early this week.
In highlights, Portugal started with $533K from 82 screens, 42% ahead of Big Hero 6 across the four-day. China added $4.3M in its 3rd frame from 3,500 screens for a Middle Kingdom cume of $66.6M. With school holidays in full swing, the UK dropped just 2% to make $1.2M from 550 screens. The total there is $12.6M. Poland, which has been a nice nest for the Birds, dropped 36% from opening for a $3.1M cume. Germany also held strong with a 32% drop in its 4th weekend for a total $9.5M. China, the UK, Russia ($11.4M), Germany and Brazil ($6.8M) are the top plays.
DEADPOOL
The sassy anti-superhero made his debut in Japan this weekend, the final play for Fox’s R-rated wonder. The opening was a fantastic $6.5M for the biggest X-Men start ever in the market. Playing on 759 screens, it’s the No. 1 movie there and the No. 2 MPA debut this year. This takes the international cume to $409.3M. While Japan likes its homegrown films and can be counted on for big action titles, it also likes its raunch. It was the No. 2 offshore market for 2012’s Ted which opened to $3.77M at the time.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
With a global cume to date of $1,132M, Captain America: Civil War is now the 12th highest grossing movie of all time worldwide. Since last weekend, the Disney/Marvel pic passed Skyfall, Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King and Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. This frame, it added $4.4M overseas to take the international total to $742.9M. The superhero mash-up is in its 6th session offshore in 49 material territories. Holds were good in Europe including Italy (-48%), Spain (-45%), France (-41%) and Germany (-52%). In the Top 5 markets, China has reached $190.4M, followed by Korea with $62.8M, the UK at $53.2M, Mexico’s $41.4M and Brazil’s $40.1M.
THE JUNGLE BOOK
Swinging towards $900M, Disney’s The Jungle Book has a worldwide cume of $895.7M. Overseas, Mowgli and the pack put a better than expected $4.1M (up from $3.7M) into the coffers this weekend for an offshore total of $548M. Korea is up next week while Japan is on deck for August 11. TJB is now 2016’s highest grossing film across Europe with $209M for the region. This was the Jon Favreau-directed film’s 9th session abroad where it’s still playing in 37 markets. There were no new openings. Last frame’s Hong Kong debut was not a fluke as the film retained the No. 1 spot, dipping 44%. Holds would give Baloo something to sing about with an 11% decrease in Belgium, a 28% drop in the UK, -26% in Australia, -30% in France, -34% in Spain and -42% in Germany.
ZOOTOPIA
Disney’s animated charmer found a $1B utopia this frame as it crossed the worldwide milestone after 17 weeks in release. Adding roughly $4.7M globally, the cume is now $1,000.7M. Of that, $663.5M is from its 15 international markets. Directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore can be hopping pleased that the fable is now Disney’s 2nd title this year to hit the mark, the studio’s 11th ever and one out of an industry total of 26. The offshore weekend added $4M with Japan the major driver taking in $3.3M. The market fell by just 17% meaning Judy Hopps still has some legs on her.
THE WAILING
The Korean thriller from Fox International Productions has been a real winner for the division, adding another $3M this frame from 568 screens. The cume is $44.36M which makes it the 2nd highest grossing Fox movie ever in the market. That’s behind only Avatar. The movie had an international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival a few weeks back. Another Cannes movie, Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, debuted at No. 1 for the Korea frame with $10.75M.
NEIGHBORS 2
With another $2.4M, the Universal sequel has a $40.7M offshore cume. This is the major comedy option overseas where it’s playing in 47 territories. There were no new openings this weekend. Mexico’s second week was worth $712K for a 10-day total of $2.5M, and Germany grossed $380K in Week 5 for a 29-day total of $6.7M. The Seth Rogen film still has Argentina, Belgium, France, Italy, Russia, Spain and French-speaking Switzerland to come in June and July.
MISC UPDATED CUMES
The Huntsman: Winter’s War (UNI): $660K weekend; $115.1M international cume
The Witch (UNI): $504K weekend; $13.6M int’l cume
Related stories
'Warcraft' Whipping Up $69M Offshore Cume In 2nd Frame - Intl Box Office
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
