‘Fate Of The Furious’ Fires Up $745M Offshore, $908M WW;

UPDATE, WRITETHRU: With engines humming in its second lap around the international box office track, Universal’s The Fate Of The Furious put another $163.4M in the tank. That lifts the offshore cume to $744.8M in 65 markets, and the global rally to $908.4M. The latest entry in the 16-year-old franchise is still No. 1 everywhere. Worldwide, it will leave $1B in the rear view this coming week.

China continued to show its love for the F8 family with a further $58.5M in the sophomore session, taking the local cume to $318.9M (2.1B RMB). That turbo-charges the pic past Transformers: Age Of Extinction (2B RMB) to become the No. 2 import of all time in the Middle Kingdom. Furious 7 still holds the record as the biggest imported pic ever with 2.4B RMB and the current film is expected to use its horsepower to get past that. China is in high gear on the movie and there’s plenty of track ahead.

Rounding out the Top 5 markets are Mexico ($29.9M), the UK ($29.3M), Brazil ($26.2M) and Germany ($24.4M). In IMAX, the gang drove off to another $10.1M global for $50.2M after two frames (see more detail below).

This coming week, Disney/Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 will look to syphon some of the gas out of F8, beginning offshore rollout in such majors as the UK, France, Brazil and Germany including 171 IMAX screens in 35 markets. It lands in North America, and China, the following week.

Also notable in the current frame, Disney’s Beauty And The Beast took a bow in Japan, the final release market, and twirled onstage with a delightful $12.8M opening to well outperform its live-action comps. The global total is now $1.1B. Elsewhere, Sony’s Smurfs: The Lost Village topped $100M internationally.

Breakdowns on the above and more have been updated below.

NEW
UNFORGETTABLE

Warner Bros.’ Unforgettable, which marks the directorial debut of producer Denise Di Novi, opened in 16 international markets this weekend to gross an estimated $1.7M on 1590 screens. The $12M-budgeted thriller doesn’t have a major overseas draw in the lead cast of Rosario Dawson, Geoff Stults and Katherine Heigl who’s playing against her romcom core; rollout is staggered. The Russia opening came in ahead of WB comps like Gone (2x+), Derailed (+62%) and The Gift (+57%), and on par with The Boy Next Door. The score there was $588K from 732 screens in 5th place. In the UK, $345K worth of ticket buyers remembered to see Unforgettable on 364 screens. The next major is Italy on April 27.

HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS

With $744.8M in the offshore tank, this 8th installment in the high-octane series has overtaken the lifetimes of the first six F&F movies (the highest of which is Fast & Furious 6 at $553.7M). After a record-smashing launch last frame, which made F8 the biggest overseas and global opener ever, the film is now at $908.4M worldwide and will rev past $1B later this week. It retained the No. 1 spot everywhere this session.

Rollout on this film is different than 2015’s F7 which provided an emotional ride for fans mourning the tragic death of star Paul Walker. That movie opened without China and Russia on its first weekend and by the end of the 2nd frame had built an overseas total of $550M and $801.5M worldwide. The swings between those numbers and today’s are the additional play in China and Russia this time around. F8 is generally tracking similarly to F7, although exchange rates in 2015 were more favorable. There have been stronger holds on F8 in such markets as Brazil, the Netherlands, Norway, Korea and Germany so far.

Continuing to roar in China, F8 again dominated the market with a 67% share and $58.5M. That’s a 69% drop from opening which is also reflective of a sharp drop in screenings (about 75K this Sunday versus roughly 112K last Sunday). Response has been positive in the PROC and propelled F8 to a 10-day cume of $318.9M. In local currency that’s 2.1B RMB which tops the 2B RMB grossed by Transformers: Age Of Extinction in 2014 and parks F8 in 2nd place amongst imported films, ever. It is expected to overtake the 2.4B RMB that drove F7 to the No. 1 slot in 2015.

Elsewhere this frame, F8 sped into Poland at No. 1 with $2.5M to cop the record as the biggest F&F launch there ever; Romania was also No. 1 with $1.7M for an overall industry best bow; and Serbia & Montenegro scooped $260K for the best F&F start there ever.

Making up the Top 10 markets with China are Mexico ($29.9M), the UK ($29.3M), Brazil ($26.2M), Germany ($24.4M), Russia ($23.4M), India ($19.2M), Korea ($19.1M), France ($18.9M) and Australia ($16.9M). Japan is still ahead on April 28.

In IMAX, the international total is now $37.7M with China fueling a $4.5M 2nd frame for a $23.2M cume there. This is the 7th best IMAX result ever for a Hollywood title in the Middle Kingdom with 10 more playdays ahead. The rest of international added $3M this session.

THE BOSS BABY

DreamWorks Animation’s Boss Baby continues to wail at the offshore box office, showing strong holds in major markets and adding $30M this frame. That brings the international total to $221.1M in 78 markets so far. The global gross is $357.9M.

The Tom McGrath-directed story of a scheming tot is currently running 25% bigger than The Croods and 19% higher than Sing at the same point in release and at current exchange rates.

In the UK, it dipped 40% this session for a $27.9M cume which overtakes the lifetime of Despicable Me. Brazil dropped just 4% ($11.3M cume to date) and Germany slipped 8% ($11.5M cume — bigger than Trolls).

In Mexico, Boss Baby is now DWA’s biggest film ever with $20.25M.

Italy led new playdates for this Baby with $2.4M on 675 screens, good for No. 2 behind F8. The Netherlands also joined the fun with $1.4M on 266 at No. 3, and Poland jumped in the playpen with $1M on 284.

Korea opens on May 3.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Disney’s singing and dancing darlings finally waltzed their way into Japan this frame with a strong $12.8M No. 1 opening. The full weekend was $22.9M in 50 offshore markets for $629.2M to date overseas. In Japan, where Disney titles excel, BATB bowed 259% above The Jungle Book on the Saturday/Sunday, 92% ahead of Cinderella and 54% above Maleficent, setting it up for a nice long run there. In IMAX, Japan opened to $1.1M, the 4th best start ever there.

The global total is now $1.1B for the 17th highest-grossing movie of all time, overtaking Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Toy Story 3 and The Dark Knight Rises.

In Europe, the estimated $259M cume has eclipsed the lifetime of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Specifically in the UK, BATB has become the 8th biggest movie ever and the biggest musical, topping Mamma Mia! with $85.9M. That makes the UK the biggest offshore play for the Emma Watson/Dan Stevens-starrer, overtaking China which now sits at No. 2 with $85.8M. Brazil is next with $40.7M, followed by Korea ($36.8M) and Australia ($33.4M) to round out the Top 5. There are no further markets to release.

BATB is holding tight near the top of the charts with small drops in Brazil (-17%), Sweden (-22%), France (-23%), Norway (-26%), Germany (-29%), Korea (-32%), Switzerland (-34%), Finland (-36%) and Chile (-40%).

SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE

With China in the mix, the little blue folks were more animated this frame, up 32% versus last session with $21.4M in 60 markets. That helped push the Sony pic across the $100M mark internationally, to $100.3M. Popular in the Middle Kingdom, the Smurfs nevertheless had to face off with speed demon F8 which dominated showings. The film came in No. 2 for the PROC weekend with $11.1M on 9,000 screens. Business was solid in holdover markets including Australia (-2%), Germany (-9%), France (-13%), and Brazil (-21%).

GOING IN STYLE

Warner Bros’ remake of the 1979 George Burns comedy grossed an estimated $4.6M from 2,888 screens in 47 markets this weekend, bringing the international cume to $19.1M. Australia was new this frame with $960K on 238 to rank No. 4. That’s 8% above Old Dogs. Mexico opened at No. 3 with $902K on 544, topping most comps including The Bucket List (+69%), Old Dogs (+45%) and Last Vegas (+23%).

In holds, the Morgan Freeman/Michael Caine/Alan Arkin starrer dipped just 22% in Germany ($2.2M cume to date), and Spain fell 38% for an $875K total so far. The UK leads offshore play at $3.1M. France opens on May 3.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLES
Ghost In The Shell (PAR/MS): $3.7M intl weekend (48+ markets); $123.1M intl cume (of which, $122.1M for PAR)
Life (SNY): $3.4M intl weekend (52 markets); $44M intl cume
Get Out (UNI): $2.1M intl weekend (24 markets – most majors still to release); $18.7M intl cume
Kong: Skull Island (WB): $1.4M intl weekend (52 markets); $394.6M intl cume
Sing (UNI): $800K intl weekend (12 markets); $356.1M intl cume
Moana (DIS): $700K intl weekend (8 markets); $390.8M intl cume
Logan (FOX): $532K intl weekend (20 markets); $382.8M intl cume
Hidden Figures (FOX): $409K intl weekend (10 markets); $59.6M intl cume
Split (UNI): $300K intl weekend (19 markets); $136.6M intl cume
Born In China (DIS): $100K intl weekend (5 markets); $9.5M intl cume

Chinese romcom Mr Pride Vs Miss Prejudice entered the international Top 10 this weekend with $7.7M ($9.4M cume) while the re-release of 1995’s Stephen Chow-starring comedy A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella also made the leaderboard with $3M for a $26.9M cume.

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