UPDATE, 3:38 PM PT: Disney/Lucasfilm’s new band of rebels this weekend scored the 4th best December opening ever at the international box office. With $135.5M overseas, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story landed behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($281M), Avatar ($164.5M) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($138M). The global cume thus far is $290.5M. This is the same weekend that last year saw The Force Awakens take hold of the galaxy as it began a run towards nearly $2.1B worldwide.
Standalone spinoff Rogue One was never expected to play to Force Awakens-style numbers, but even K-2SO would be hard-pressed to find anything to fret upon. The pent-up demand for TFA was built over a decade and caused a tremor in fans young and old, as well as the uninitiated. Rogue One is playing like a ‘normal’ blockbuster — albeit one with a rarefied pedigree. The lucrative holiday period is just kicking in and the film is expected to stretch out, benefiting from the strong critical and audience response. Also, China is still to come on January 6.
Given that market’s unfamiliarity with the Force, the most recent Star Wars movie is a reasonable comp in the Middle Kingdom. TFA did $124M there and Rogue One should be helped by increased awareness of the franchise as well as the inclusion of Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen in key roles.
Speaking of China, and similar to last year at this time, the No. 2 movie at the international box office is a PROC release. Legendary’s The Great Wall built a $67.4M start to land it among the best openers of the year alongside The Mermaid, Captain America: Civil War and Warcraft as it heads towards $100M.
Compared to last year, the Top 10 at the international box office is down 37% while it’s up 78% on last week. Coming up, Fox’s Assassin’s Creed begins offshore rollout as does Sony’s Passengers. Illumination/Universal’s Sing will expand its lungs. We’ll also keep an eye on Dangal, a return to the Christmas frame for Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan which hails from Disney’s UTV. Khan’s last Christmas movie was PK in 2014 and has remained the No. 1 Bollywood grosser of all time (Dangal‘s release comes just as Pakistan has reportedly lifted a ban on Indian films).
Breakdowns on all titles have been updated below the original post with the exception of Hacksaw Ridge. We are waiting on detail of its weekend which comScore has at $8.6M. It’s been doing bang-up business in China with a $35M cume according to local reporting after this frame. Also notable this session, Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them crossed double milestones with grosses now at $500M+ internationally and $700M+ worldwide (detail below).
PREVIOUS, rolling from 8:58 AM PT: Playing in 54 material offshore markets this weekend, Disney/Lucasfilm’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story stormed a $135.5M opening to score the 4th biggest December bow ever at the international box office. The spinoff comes in behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($281M), Avatar ($164.5M) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($138M). Combined with domestic, where it’s the No. 2 best December bow ever, the worldwide debut is $290.5M. The Gareth Edwards-directed pic was No. 1 in all opening markets and posted the top launch weekend of 2016 in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, among others.
Looking at the same suite of release markets and at today’s exchange rates, Rogue One is running just above half of Force Awakens at this point. It’s playing more like a ‘normal’ blockbuster — less front-loaded than last year’s rebirth of the franchise.
The opening came in at the low end of industry sources’ estimates ahead of the weekend, but many today agree this is a pretty amazing number to pull in the week before Christmas — and on a movie with all new characters. Disney is “right where we wanted to be,” says the studio’s EVP of distribution, Dave Hollis. Rogue One did “exactly what it needed to do as a litmus for the standalones going forward from a commercial and an artistic standpoint. It’s incredibly satisfying that it’s opened the way it has and gotten the reaction that it has despite pre-holiday distractions.”
The UK leads overseas play with $21M and 75% of the market share. Jyn Erso and the crew of Rogue One landed the 2nd best December bow ever there, behind just The Force Awakens.
The critically embraced film (84% Fresh) hit France on Wednesday followed by such majors as the UK, Australia, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Brazil and Italy on Thursday. On Friday, the key majors outside domestic were Japan and Spain. The only territories not releasing this weekend were Korea (which goes December 28 to stay away from local competition), and China, which enlists January 6.
In IMAX, the movie grossed $29.2M worldwide on 708 screens for the 2nd biggest December IMAX start ever behind only Force Awakens. It’s also a Top 10 all-time global IMAX opening — notably sans China and Korea in the mix. Overseas, Rogue One made off with $10.2M on 307 screens to become the No. 2 December opening ever for the format internationally.
Meanwhile, opening in China this weekend, Legendary’s action fantasy The Great Wall got off to a $67.4M (RMB 469M) start. The Zhang Yimou-directed pic stars Matt Damon in the biggest China-U.S. co-production ever. In the Middle Kingdom, we’re hearing there’s been some social media backlash. However, the solid start tops all recent debut comps for Damon (already outgrossing the lifetime of Jason Bourne) and Zhang’s 2015 Dragon Blade. It nabbed the 2nd highest December IMAX opening of all time and the No. 3 start ever for a local title behind last year’s The Ghouls and Monster Hunt.
Elsewhere, Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them has crossed the $500M mark internationally and the $700M mark globally. The studio’s Sully also flew past the $100M international milestone.
Breakdowns on those and more have been updated below:
NEW
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
Disney
Disney/Lucasfilm’s standalone spinoff of the Star Wars franchise blasted off to a $135.5M start in 54 material markets this weekend (71% of the international footprint). The bow is the 4th best for the month of December ever at the international box office with 2016 records set in myriad overseas hubs.
The movie’s opening comes in behind leading all-time December launches Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($281M), Avatar ($164.5M) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($138M). The latter film is the best comp in terms of similarly being a spinoff of a billion-dollar franchise. It legged to a $718M international gross. Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them opened to $145.5M in November and has, through today, taken $509.8M overseas.
As we turn the corner into the lucrative holiday season, the thinking is that Rogue One (which is 84% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and has an A CinemaScore domestically) will continue to play throughout. Winter blockbusters have lower drops than summer tentpoles and there is no significant competition on the horizon.
It bears noting again that comping Rogue One as apples-to-apples with last year’s hyperdrive revival of the franchise, The Force Awakens, is not appropriate given this film’s new characters and the decade of pent-up demand for TFA‘s Han, Leia, Chewie and more.
However, in terms of timing and playability, Force Awakens continued strongly into mid-January and the expectation is to see the same thing happen here. Word of mouth is Force-ful and Disney’s Hollis says that in some places where the brand isn’t as strong, the hope is that the standalone films like Rogue One “create a way in for the uninitiated.”
Rogue One opened at No. 1 in all markets this weekend and is the best start of 2016 in Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland (non-local), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK/Ireland.
In individual markets, the UK leads with $21M and 75% market share. It is the 2nd biggest December opening ever (behind only Force Awakens). It landed ahead of all three Hobbit films and the recent release of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, another spinoff of a major series.
Rounding out the Top 5, in Germany, Rogue One tallied $12.5M with 56% of the market. Australia follows with $10.8M and the 3rd biggest Disney bow ever, behind Force Awakens and Avengers: Age Of Ultron. France is next with $10M, coming in ahead of the first Hobbit and Fantastic Beasts. Japan, which was the lead market on Revenge Of The Sith, which Rogue One follows chronologically, grossed $7.9M for the No. 3 opening of a Western title this year after Fantastic Beasts and Finding Dory.
The bottom half of the Top 10 includes Russia ($5.6M), Brazil ($5.3M), Mexico ($5.1M), Spain ($4.5M) and Sweden ($3.5M and 66% of the market).
The Force was with Asia Pacific market shares: Hong Kong (72%), Singapore (71%), Philippines (70%), Malaysia (65%) and Thailand (59%).
In IMAX play, Rogue One grossed $10.2M from 307 screens. It saw the biggest opening ever for the format in Japan, Denmark and Belgium. For 2016, it’s the best start in those markets as well as the UK, Germany, Austria, France, Portugal and New Zealand. It’s the No. 2 biggest December IMAX start ever internationally.
Korea is on deck on December 28 and China bows on January 6. In China particularly, the film will have the benefit of local stars Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen in key, charming roles.
Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock
Part of the push in China included the first ever integration in Shanghai featuring TIE fighter and X-wing replicas and costumes; and custom print materials and trailers. There were also premium interactive mall events in Shanghai and Guangzhou featuring the “Mission Recon” VR Experience.
Other notable promotions included Japan’s Nagoya City Science Museum being turned into the Death Star; Rogue One “Rebel Chic” designs at Sao Paulo…
