Refresh for latest… Last weekend’s ruler, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, took the kids to some new key majors this weekend with a $42.46M sophomore session. This makes it two in a row No. 1s at the international box office for Fox’s Tim Burton-directed pic which notably got a big bump in Korea. As with domestic, the main new opener is The Girl On The Train which traveled to an overall 34 markets this weekend — six from Universal and another 28 handled by Mister Smith Entertainment. The full tally on the adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ runaway bestseller is $16.5M.
An otherwise notable release is J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls which Universal debuted in his native Spain to $3.9M — the biggest opening for a Spanish movie this year.
Elsewhere, Finding Dory crossed $1B in worldwide box office and Suicide Squad has now overtaken Deadpool at the international box office with $419.6M to date. China, meanwhile, continues to be led by local pics as Operation Mekong crosses $100M.
Breakdowns are being updated below:
NEW
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
Universal
The Emily Blunt-starrer sped to 28 Mister Smith Entertainment markets this weekend with $15.3M voyeurs showing up to theaters. Universal’s six markets on the DreamWorks picture added $1.2M for a total $16.5M. For the MSE territories, the numbers are comparable to Gone Girl with some finishing above expectations. Several key majors are to come.
The book, whose rights have been sold in 34 countries, and Blunt are the draw here as the actress’ international profile has grown over the past decade since she broke out in The Devil Wears Prada. As my colleague Anthony D’Alessandro notes, TGOTT has a B- CinemaScore domestically, and while that might seem severe, it’s typical for feature adaptations of chick lit.
Comparisons to Ben Affleck-starrer Gone Girl are inevitable, even if they are different shades of thriller. The offshore market breakdown for the moment is following a similar path to GG with Blunt’s native UK leading off of an $8.5M No. 1 start via eOne. That dislodged Universal’s Bridget Jones’s Baby which had held the spot for three weeks running. The UK was tops on Gone Girl which opened to $6.7M in October 2014 and legged to $34.6M there.
Australia, where eOne is also handling, opened at a big No. 1 with $4.4M. That’s about on par with GG. Portugal (Lusomundo) gave the Girl a first-place start and the Netherlands debuted at No. 2 via eOne.
Universal opened the Tate Taylor-directed film in Malaysia ($73K/37 dates), the Philippines ($280K/145), Singapore ($177K/24), Taiwan ($365K/76), Thailand ($145K/36) and Colombia ($170K/60). In each, Girl landed in the Top 5.
Rollout continues throughout this month in some of the bigger markets including Spain, Brazil, France and Germany.
A MONSTER CALLS
Focus Features
J.A. Bayona’s moving story of a boy who seeks the help of a tree monster as he struggles with the terminal illness of his mother began its international rollout in Spain this weekend. That’s a natch move for the Focus Features pic since Bayona hails from the country and has been a local box office hero. Universal released at 365 dates on Friday to a No. 1 bow that rang up $3.9M and had 40% of the market. This is the biggest opening of a Spanish film this year.
Guillermo del Toro exec produced Bayona’s breakout The Orphanage in 2007 ($71.5M intl/$78.6M WW) and this film’s fantastical elements harken back to del Toro’s own masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth. Bayona followed with The Impossible in 2012 which grossed $54.2M in Spain alone to become the biggest local movie ever at the time. In all, it made $161.3M internationally and $180.3M worldwide.
Universal has only Spain and North America on this U.S.-Spain co-pro. It goes out limited in the U.S. on December 23. Elsewhere, the film releases throughout the rest of the year and into early 2017. Bayona’s currently helming the untitled Jurassic World sequel.
HOLDOVERS
MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN
Fox
After picking up $37.4M last weekend in 60 opening markets, the Tim Burton-directed adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ novel expanded to 15 more and took in $42.46M this frame. That brings the international total in 75 markets to $94M.
Russia was the top opener on the Eva Green-starrer with $5.8M for No. 1 and 58% market share. That’s 75% bigger than comp Maze Runner. France fell in next with a No. 1 $5.4M at 20% bigger than Maze Runner. Argentina’s $665K is Burton’s biggest bow ever in the market.
In holds, Korea jumped 21% from opening in what is a crowded field. The No. 1 frame was $5.9M for a local total of $14.9M. The film last weekend had already bested the lifetime cumes of Cinderella and Alice Through The Looking Glass there.
Overall, the drop was 32% in aggregate from last weekend with No. 1s still in Brazil, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Belgium. Italy and Japan are still to come.
BRIDGET JONES’S BABY
Universal Pictures
This Baby is making its way to $150M worldwide with a global cume through Sunday of $147.3M. Via Universal, the threequel added $11.3M offshore in 53 territories for an international total of $120.6M. In France, the film was released via Studiocanal for a strong No. 2 with $3.9M. Adding those numbers in, the full weekend was $15.2M and the international total is $124.5M.
French-speaking Switzerland opened to $158K at 26 dates. That’s neck-and-neck for No. 1 with Miss Peregrine and Radin!. Chile opened above expectations at No. 3 with $139K at 43 dates — the biggest opening for the Bridget franchise in the market. In holds, Bridget slid to No. 2 in the UK where the love letter to London could pass $50M this week. The current cume there is $48.7M. Korea’s 11-day total is $4.7M.
MORE…
