UPDATE 3:40 PM PT: Disney’s Beauty And The Beast beat domestic, international and global projections this weekend to serve up a Belle-issimo $350M worldwide opening. By the accounts of all industry folk surveyed today, this sets the table for a potential $1B+ global theatrical gross when Mrs Potts ultimately puts her tea cozy back on. It would be “surprising” if the movie doesn’t reach those heights, I’m told.
The international box office opening is $180M, per Dis. Domestically, the official Disney number is $170M. My colleague Anthony D’Alessandro has the industry calling it at $174M.
Before the weekend, the main comps were other Disney Live Action titles like Maleficent ($759M global at historic exchanges), Cinderella ($535M) and The Jungle Book ($967M). Throughout the first couple of days, the international box office started to look like BATB was doing business à la the latter which, in today’s dollars and in the comparable suite of markets, opened to $134M. With $180M overseas, Belle and her Beast blew past that in launch and are running well ahead of TJB in most major plays.
Looking at the same suite of offshore markets, and at today’s rates, the opening BATB frame is running 35% ahead of The Jungle Book, 96% ahead of Alice In Wonderland, 100% ahead of Maleficent and 148% ahead of Cinderella.
The Emma Watson/Dan Stevens-starrer was No. 1 in virtually all debuts — it’s playing in 44 material markets this weekend. A dazzling $22.8M in the UK gave BATB the highest grossing 3-day opening weekend ever for a PG title; and China opened to $44.8M for the biggest-ever Disney Live Action launch weekend (note that Disney Live Action refers to Lucasfilm/Marvel releases). This is also the top March opening ever in several territories (more below).
BATB had been expected to resonate with worldwide audiences and in general was poised to play across generations. It’s also playing like superhero movies amongst women, say watchers.
Myriad milestones were set this opening frame including the No. 1 PG-rated debut domestically; the No. 2 March debut of all time both globally and internationally, behind Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice; and the No. 1 global bow ever for a PG-rated film in IMAX. In many offshore markets, there were also new benchmarks (see below).
Headline-making potential hiccups in Russia and Malaysia — upset over the “gay moment”: Josh Gad’s portrayal of LeFou as smitten with the handsome cad Gaston (Luke Evans) — evidently had no effect on this weekend. Russia bowed to $6M, twice that of Cinderella’s first sweep, and Malaysia, a smaller market, is due to deliver its final decision on the film this week. Disney did not budge on accepting cuts there.
BATB has clearly hit the nostalgia factor for fans of the 1991 animated classic and brought in new audiences by the droves. This weekend makes it the No. 14 worldwide bow of all time and No. 19 internationally.
And what’s important to bear in mind here is that there are three key markets yet to come. France, which feels a sort of ownership of the property given the literary provenance and Jean Cocteau’s 1946 feature, is due next week as is Australia. Japan is due April 21.
France was not held back by design this frame. Rather, there is the annual Printemps du Cinéma reduced-price ticket scheme going on. Who could blame any studio with a major tentpole to choose another weekend? The WOM and success of this weekend will only help serendipitously set up a big bow next frame. In Australia, holidays are better next session. Disney, as many others do, typically holds Japan till last and that’s the case here. It should be a big way to finish a run that already has a lot of runway ahead of it elsewhere.
An elated Dave Hollis today told me he was “over the moon with the start” on BATB. The Disney distribution chief says, “If had to pick the markets that were still in reserve, I’ll take France, Australia and Japan.”
PREVIOUS, 8:37 AM PT: Disney’s Beauty And The Beast charmed its way into the international box office this weekend with a wild $180M start. Combined with the equally monstrous domestic opening, that puts the global tally for the live-action update of 1991’s animated classic at a magnifique $350M worldwide. The Bill Condon-directed film is now the No. 2 March debut of all time both globally and internationally, behind Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.
We had a sense yesterday that BATB was headed across $300M global and indeed it sprang past pre-weekend estimates on all fronts.
Looking at the same suite of offshore markets, and at today’s rates, the opening BATB frame is running 35% ahead of The Jungle Book, 96% ahead of Alice In Wonderland, 100% ahead of Maleficent and 148% ahead of Cinderella.
The Emma Watson/Dan Stevens-starrer was No. 1 in virtually all debuts — it’s playing in 44 material markets this weekend. A dazzling $22.8M in the UK gave BATB the highest grossing 3-day opening weekend ever for a PG title; and China opened to $44.8M for the biggest-ever Disney Live Action launch weekend (note that Disney Live Action refers to non-Lucasfilm/Marvel releases).
In other highlights, this is the top March opening ever in several territories, including the UK, Germany and Mexico. BATB also had the No. 1 bow of 2017 in those markets as well as Italy, Sweden and Brazil, among others. The film further surpassed the lifetimes of Maleficent and Alice In Wonderland in China, Korea and India.
In IMAX plays, BATB waltzed to a record-setting $21M on 1,026 screens worldwide. In 55 international markets, the gross was $8.5M on 649. The movie, which features an expanded aspect ratio that is exclusive to IMAX, is the 300th DMR (digital media remastering) title in the format’s history and pushes IMAX past the $6B total global box office mark.
BATB is the No. 1 global bow ever for a PG-rated film in IMAX, topping Disney’s own Jungle Book ($20M) from last year. It is the No. 2 overseas launch for a PG movie after TJB‘s $9.7M and the No. 3 international opening weekend in March after BVS and Logan.
Overall, the UK is a big part of this fairy tale. Along with the PG record noted above, the $22.8M score is the 5th highest grossing 3-day launch of all time. The Saturday was the 2nd biggest ever only behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film is doing Jungle Book-style business overseas — and indeed outpacing it — with a launch in the UK that is +83% on that film. This is further the biggest Disney Live Action opening in the market and the top March debut frame ever. It also tops the start for all musicals in the market.
The Top 5 hubs this session are China ($44.8M), the UK ($22.8M), Korea ($11.9M), Mexico ($11.6M) and Germany ($10.7M). Market breakdowns are coming below.
Other notable numbers this frame include Fox’s Logan passing $100M in China; Warner Bros’ Kong: Skull Island getting thisclose to $150M international after two sessions; Universal’s Split crossing $250M worldwide; Uni’s A Dog’s Purpose sitting up to over $100M international; and Illumination/Universal’s Sing nearing $600M global. New was the opening of Jordan Peele’s Get Out from Universal and Blumhouse.
Breakdowns on those and others are being updated below.
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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
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As we expected when the first-days’ numbers rolled in, Disney’s Beauty And The Beast did a big twirl past the $300M global mark with a fantastique $350M. The $180M offshore start topped projections and is besting comps with current markets and exchange rates running 35% ahead of The Jungle Book, 96% ahead of Alice In Wonderland, 100% ahead of Maleficent and 148% ahead of Cinderella.
The tale as old as time was expected to resonate around the world and just continued to run all weekend. That’s despite any controversy that reared up over Josh Gad’s “gay moment” in the film. Any distraction over Russia giving the film a 16+ rating (on par with Dis’ Pirates films, btw and equivalent to a PG-13 in the U.S) did not damage the start there (see more below).
With all this cash in the castle, there are still openings to come in such majors as France, Australia and Japan. BATB has lots of runway ahead of it and with ongoing play, plus the addition of those markets which are poised to belly right up to the beast, $1B global looks all but assured.
Currently offshore, China is in the lead with $44.8M to become the biggest ever Disney Live Action opening weekend of all time. BATB repped 67% of the market share there and has already bested the entire run of both Maleficent and Alice In Wonderland. In 2015 dollars, Cindy opened to $25M across her first 3-day with BABT almost doubling that start this weekend. In IMAX, the film grossed $3.4M on 386 screens.
The UK, as noted above, had a fairy tale launch with $22.8M and several benchmarks set including the highest grossing 3-day opening weekend ever for a PG title; the 5th highest grossing 3-day bow of all time; and the 2nd biggest Saturday ever only behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Korea, which is the No. 3 play on BATB this weekend, came in at $11.9M for the top Disney Live Action opening frame ever. With 67% market share the opening already exceeds the entire run of both Maleficent and Cinderella. Belle and her Beast are 80% ahead of Jungle Book currently.
Mexico comes in as the No. 4 offshore hub with $11.6M, again the biggest ever DLA bow; the No. 1 March opening of all time; and the top industry start of 2017. It is also the 6th industry opening weekend ever. It dominated the market with 74% and is running 91% swingier than Jungle Book.
In Germany, the table was set with $10.7M for the top March opening weekend on record and 2017’s best so far. There, it’s 118% ahead of Jungle Book.
Brazil is next with $10.4M: top DLA ever, top 2017 start and 7th industry opening of all time. The score more than tripled The Jungle Book’s launch.
Italy’s first dance was worth…
