2ND UPDATE, 6:39 PM PT: Italy certainly didn’t turn out to be a fluke for Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. Now with six Oscar nominations, the movie shot off to a massive start domestically, picking off records left and right. The Warner Bros-Village Roadshow title had already become the best Eastwood debut of his career in Italy when it bowed two weeks ago, and by its 2nd frame last week had overtaken all of the director’s previous pictures in that market. This week, it added career-best openings for Eastwood in the UK, Taiwan, New Zealand and Peru — and it still has debuts to come in several major markets.
The top film of the overseas frame, however, was Taken 3 which earned $ 31.4M. With a few exceptions, the Luc Besson-produced franchise threequel that’s being released in many markets by Fox, is outperforming Taken 2.
Overall, there was a roughly 18% drop this week from last frame’s takings across the Top 10 studio titles released internationally. Factoring in local movies, the session was about flat compared to last year. At the time, Wolf Of Wall Street had added $ 28.5M in its Universal territories — and much like Eastwood this frame, gave Martin Scorsese some of his best-ever starts in Europe. Also last year, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit had a $ 9.5M day-and-date debut in China.
Fast-forward to 2015 and last week benefitted from Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb’s first session in China which boosted its weekend take to $ 46M. This frame, the big China opening was Legendary East’s Seventh Son which helped it raise $ 21.7M for a $ 60.5M overseas cume.
There should be action in China next weekend with The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies storming multiplexes on January 23. Korea will welcome Big Hero 6 on January 22 — and hotly anticipated local 
title Gangnam Blues (more on that below in the market round-ups). Brazil gets Taken on the 22nd. In France, that EuropaCorp title will bow the day prior as will Johnny Depp-starrer Mortdecai, whose posters are papered all over Paris. Gwyneth Paltrow co-stars in the comedy about a debonair art-dealer/rogue who races to recover a stolen painting said to hold a code that leads to lost Nazi gold. Mortdecai also hits 20+ other markets including Germany and the UK. Also in the UK, Alex Garland’s AI sci-fi thriller Ex Machina comes to life. Other notable expansions include American Sniper, Blackhat, The Imitation Game and Birdman.
See below the original posts for some key market round-ups, and check back for actuals early in the week:
1ST UPDATE, 1:10 PM PT: Warner Bros is now in with international numbers on its North American bullseye, American Sniper. The Oscar-nominated Clint Eastwood drama opened in seven more markets this frame with an estimated $ 9.3M for a $ 25.36M cume. After the sharp-shooting results in Italy over the past two weeks, American Sniper’s bow also bested the director’s previous films in the UK, Taiwan, New Zealand and Peru. A full Sniper breakdown, along with numbers on Warner’s The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies and other studio titles have been added below. More to come…
PREVIOUS, 12:10 PM PT: International box office numbers are rolling in from the studios on what was a big domestic weekend for Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. We’re still waiting on overseas figures for that Warner Bros Oscar-nominee which has been going great guns in Italy for two weeks. We’re also hanging on for the local-language titles. In the meantime, highlights include Seventh Son‘s surge this weekend on the back of a $ 15M China release via Legendary East; Taken 3 getting thisclose to $ 100M while The Imitation Game has just crossed that mark; Big Hero 6’s continued No. 1 run in Japan, and a 195% Oscar bump for Boyhood. Michael Mann’s Blackhat (Uni) was mixed in its debut. Updates to follow…
NEW
One of the only new entries at the overseas box office this frame, cyberthriller Blackhat had varied results. Despite some strong reviews, the hacking storyline’s urgency, and an international cast, Blackhat tipped $ 2.2M at 810 dates in 19 territories. It went head-to-head with Taken 3 and American Sniper in some markets, although it did play above, or in line with, expectations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, Universal says. Along with lead Chris Hemsworth (aka Thor), Asian stars Wang Leehom and Tang Wei helped attract audiences. In Ukraine it was No. 1 but fell below projections in Denmark, Greece, Poland, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam. The international rollout continues next weekend including in Hong Kong, the Philippines, the Netherlands and Sweden. It’s worth noting that Michael Mann’s last three films have crossed $ 100M internationally.
HOLDOVERS
Taken 3 is hovering at the $ 100M threshold with a $ 99M cume after three weeks. This $ 31.4M frame was led by the UK with $ 5.5M from 800 locations and a cume of $ 19.4M. The Philippines gave Fox its 2nd biggest opening ever there with $ 2.48M on 218 screens. Russia, Spain, Greece and Portugal also all debuted at No. 1. Russia was $ 2.25M on 1,438 and Spain took $ 1.24M from 301. In other holdover markets, Bryan Mills was still tops in Australia, now with an $ 8.87M cume. After three weeks in Korea, the cume is $ 14.3M. In the 22 non-Fox markets, the EuropaCorp film earned $ 10M over the weekend with Germany coming in at $ 4.4M.
Along with the Middle Kingdom bow and Universal’s $ 6.7M at 2,200 dates in 34 other territories, Seventh Son’s weekend was worth $ 21.7M. The overseas cume is now $ 60.5M. It also opened No. 1 in Mexico with $ 2.9M at 654 dates and has 22 markets to come. Based on book series The Spook’s Apprentice, the film is taking its time getting to the U.S., building momentum in an overseas rollout that began in mid-December. Sergey Bodrov directs Kit Harringon, Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges and Alicia Vikander. The U.S. bow is primed for February 6 with such markets as Australia, the UK, Germany and Brazil not hitting until March.
Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb dug up another $ 17.8M this weekend, lifting the cume to $ 179.9M. The only new opening was in Korea where local titles continue to rule. Bowing to No. 3, the Ben Stiller comedy was nevertheless the No. 1 MPA release with $ 3.9M on 500 screens. China‘s second week, now on 3,911 screens, was worth $ 4.9M binging the cume there to $ 39M. Russia was No. 2 behind Taken 3, both from Fox, with $ 1.9M and a cume of $ 9.2M. In Brazil, the total is now $ 9.2M, surpassing all others in the franchise.
Penguins Of Madagascar hatched another $ 16.3M helped along by seven No. 1 openings for a cume of $ 225.64M. Brazil led with a huge $ 5.07M from 911 screens. Other notable openings on the DreamWorks Animation title were in Colombia ($ 1.3M), Peru ($ 979K) and Central America ($ 954K).
Exodus: Gods And Kings parts the weekend with $ 10.9M for a $ 185.8M total to date. In Italy, the biblical epic took the No. 1 slot with $ 3.2M from 644 screens. In Brazil it earned a further $ 1.6M to lift the total to $ 21.25M – Brazil remains the Fox film’s biggest offshore market with Russia close behind at $ 18.3M. The final territory to release Ridley Scott’s Moses story is Japan on January 30.
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies added a further $ 9.8M this frame with nearly 1.2M admissions from 6,701 screens in 62 markets. Germany continues to lead the pack of Hobbit faithfuls with $ 76.7M to date. The international cume is now $ 558.6M. China opens January 23.
American Sniper added seven markets this frame for a total of eight, with an estimated $ 9.3M from roughly 1.2M admissions on 1,467 screens and a $ 25.36M cume. In the UK, Clint Eastwood had his biggest opening ever in the market with $ 3.6M from 429 screens. Korea opened to $ 1.2M with 158K admissions from 302 screens. This is Eastwood’s second best bow in the market after Million Dollar Baby. Surpassing all previous Eastwood films, Taiwan grossed $ 1.05M with 137K admissions from 83 screens, including previews. The three-day puts it ahead of Taken 3. New Zealand debuted at No. 2 with an estimated $ 280K from 41 screens, also the biggest Eastwood opening ever. Same goes for Peru with $ 147K. In Italy, the 3rd frame was worth $ 2.8M, 36% off of last week and good for an $ 18.8M cume. Sniper is now WB’s 4th highest-grossing non-franchise U.S. film in the market behind The Bodyguard, Last Samurai and Troy. Key upcoming releases include Australia (January 22), France (February 18), Brazil & Mexico (February 19), Spain (February 20), Japan (February 21) and Germany (February 26).
With five Oscar nominations now in the equation, The Theory Of Everything jumped 63% this weekend with an estimated $ 8M take. The James Marsh-directed film moved into nine more territories with 1,700 dates in 21 total. The cume to date is an estimated $ 31M, per Universal. In Italy, Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones attracted $ 1.5M at 291 dates for a No. 3 slot. Spain kicked off at No. 2 with $ 1M at 214 dates (and with the best per-screen average in the market). In the UK/Ireland, where it is playing exceptionally well, Theory held strongly in its 3rd frame for an estimated $ 3.5M at 543 and a 17-day total of $ 18.1M. There are 36 markets to go.
Disney’s Into The Woods opened this frame in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand and Vietnam. Adding $ 7.3M, it now has an offshore total of $ 26M. In its 4th frame, it played in 20 territories repping about 39% of the international marketplace. In the UK where the source material arguably has the most instant recognition outside the U.S., Into The Woods earned $ 3.1M over the three-day with a fantastic 161% jump from Friday to Saturday. The cume there is $ 8.2M. In Australia, it dropped 29% for a $ 1.7M No. 2 frame. In Hong Kong, Meryl Streep’s witch scared up a No. 1 debut with $ 700K. Spain, Belgium and Peru open next weekend with key European and Latin American dates on deck.
Japan keeps flocking to San Fransokyo with Big Hero 6 maintaining the No. 1 slot there for a 3rd consecutive frame that dropped only 25% from last weekend. The No. 1 Western release in Japan for five weeks, it’s earned $ 51.6M there. In total this frame, which is the Oscar nominee’s 13th internationally, Big Hero 6 added $ 7.2M. That’s good for an overseas cume of $ 212.2M from 58 territories which rep roughly 61% of the international marketplace. The global cume is $ 428.3M with such key markets as Korea, Germany, the UK, France and China still to come.
The Imitation Game, which garnered eight Oscar nominations on Thursday, passed the $ 100M mark this week. FilmNation, on behalf of Black Bear Pictures and Bristol Automotive, says the total is now north of $ 102.3M. That includes an estimated $ 50.8M in North America through today. The current international frame was worth $ 6.6M for a $ 51.5M cume. This weekend added five new territories: Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Poland and India. The screen count is roughly 1,714. In Belgium, Imitation Game opened on par with The King’s Speech at $ 289K, and Sweden had a $ 332K debut, six times Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (the other new markets have yet to report). In the UK, the film’s biggest ex-U.S. market, the cume is now $ 24M after 10 weeks.
Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken moved into some key markets this frame, to take the total to 32 and 2,500 dates. The Universal release earned $ 6.6M over the weekend to bring the international cume to $ 21.8M. Australia was a No. 2 opening with $ 1.8M at 289 dates; Russia was better than expected, says Universal, with $ 650K at 505 which bests Argo’s opening and the lifetime of Lone Survivor; and Brazil bowed at No. 7 with $ 448K at 107 dates. Universal has 30 more territories to open over the measured rollout.
Warner Bros’ local German-language title Honig Im Kopf is still No. 1 there after four weekends. The add this frame was $ 6.1M. The total for the Til Schweiger drama in the market is $ 34.7M, with a rough estimate including Austria and Switzerland of $ 37M.
Birdman’s nine Oscar nominations certainly may have helped it wing to an added $ 4.3M in a host of new markets this frame. The weekend lifts the cume to $ 13.4M for Fox. Of the new markets, Australia was on top with $ 1.7M from 150 locations. Spain zoomed up 5% this frame for a $ 2.05M total and the UK dropped only 35% in week three; the cume there is $ 6.26M.
Ouija scared up a further $ 4M in 15 markets, bringing the offshore total to $ 39.8M. Universal says Venezuela opened at No. 4 with $ 388K at 30 dates. (Venezuela is a fast-growing market, it’s just a pity that box office bolivares can’t be exchanged for dollares… yet.) The open was on par with The Conjuring and is one of the biggest ever for a horror movie. Mexico was a No. 2 hold with $ 2M at 626 dates for an 11-day total of $ 6M. Ouija crosses to Germany next weekend.
Fury grossed an estimated $ 2.9M on 1,700 screens for an overseas cume of $ 119.7M. Of that, Sony Pictures Releasing International’s portion is $ 74.8M and QED’s is $ 44.9M on the Brad Pitt WWII actioner. New openings came in Argentina with $ 315K on 100 screens — 43% bigger than the opening of Sony comp Valkyrie. In Spain, Fury fell 43% from its opening weekend, grossing $ 965K for a $ 3.2M cume. Germany added $ 375K in its 3rd frame ($ 3.3M cume); Mexico fell just 19%, grossing $ 735K ($ 4.8M cume). Brazil opens on February 5.
Fox’s Let’s Be Cops collared another $ 2M, largely from Germany which cuffed $ 1.6M. The overseas total is now $ 51.5M for the comedy.
Musical reboot Annie knocked out $ 1.7M on 1,000 screens in 24 territories for a $ 22.2M cume. The total is split between SPRI ($ 17M) and Village Roadshow ($ 5.2M). In new openings, Germany rang up $ 550K including previews from 403 screens; Austria delivered $ 100K including previews from 61 screens; and German-speaking Switzerland took in $ 90K from 36 screens. The cume in the UK is $ 10.7M.
Horrible Bosses 2 raised another $ 1.1M on 841 screens in 30 territories. Warner Bros has the international cume at $ 51.5M, noting last week’s reported cume of $ 51.4M was down to a technical error.
Dumb And Dumber To goofed up a further $ 1.1M in Universal’s seven territories for a total of $ 23.1M. Australia grossed $ 1M at 206 dates for an 11-day total of $ 4.1M.
Paramount’s The Gambler was dealt $ 536K from five territories this weekend for a cume of $ 1.7M to date. The Mark Wahlberg-starrer sits down at the table in Russia and the UK later this week along with Australia on February 5.
Japan and Italy helped that crafty Gone Girl past the $ 200M mark internationally. With an Oscar nomination for Rosamund Pike on Thursday, the movie also added $ 510K this frame for a total of $ 200.2M.
Boyhood got an Oscar bump this frame, jumping 195% above last weekend on the back of its six nominations. The estimated gross this weekend in 16 Universal territories was $ 500K for a $ 21.6M total. The studio is keeping Boyhood in theaters and also plans to re-release it in some territories where it opened last year.
Market round-ups
ASIA
China
China’s remake of Korea’s Miss Granny, which goes by the English-language title 20, Once Again!, added $ 9M for a $ 37M kitty to date in the Middle Kingdom. A co-production with Korea’s CJ E&M, it surpassed the previous record for a collaboration which was held by 2013’s A Wedding Invitation at $ 32.3M. The romantic 
comedy centers on a 70-year-old widow who is accidentally transformed into her 20-year-old self and decides to chase her dream of becoming a singer while encountering unexpected love. Taiwanese helmer Leste Chen (The Great Hypnotist) directs. The film will have releases in North America, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand later this year. Legendary’s Seventh Son debuted in China this weekend under its Legendary East banner with a solid $ 15M bow. The big-budget actioner had a bumpy road to release after first getting caught in the Rhythm & Hues VFX bankruptcy. It was initially due to open in February 2013, then pushed to October that year so the effects work could be done. At the time, it was still with Warner Bros. When Thomas Tull took Legendary to Universal, he also took Seventh Son and they set a domestic bow of February 6 where it will face off with Warner’s Jupiter Ascending. Internationally, it’s currently got a $ 60.5M tally.
Korea
Also in Korea, expectations are high on next week’s release of Gangnam Blues (aka Gangnam 1970). The Yu Ha-helmed period noir thriller is set at the height of political corruption in the titular Seoul neighborhood. Lee Min-ho and Kim Rae-won play childhood friends who become embroiled in the gangland machinations behind the construction of Gangnam.
India
Kollywood title I became the biggest-ever release for a Tamil-language film in the U.S. when it went out mid-week. Playing in 222 theaters, the action/romance thriller that’s based on Beauty And The Beast is from director Shankar and stars Vikram – Tamil talent often goes by one name. While it doesn’t appear to have earned record box office in the U.S., the start is nevertheless healthy for distributor Aascar Film. The Friday-Saturday is estimated at $ 781K while the cume is now $ 1.4M. India numbers are not yet available.
EUROPE
France
While France deals with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month, French film export body Unifrance had some bright news over the weekend, reporting 2014 figures for local films abroad. Unsurprisingly, Luc Besson’s Lucy was the top offshore title with 53.6M admissions in 60 territories for a box office of 302.8M euros ($ 350M). Of that, there were 15.7M tickets sold in the U.S. The movie of course was in English but qualifies as French based on its provenance and is now the all-time top French title abroad. The No. 2 and 3 French films internationally were local-language with Bourgeois comedy Qu’Est-ce Qu’On A Fait Au Bon Dieu?! scoring $ 58M overseas – largely in Germany, while it was not released in the U.S.; and Christophe Gans’ Beauty And The Beast enjoying solid runs in Italy, Russia, China and Brazil. Its biggest market, however, was Japan. The total offshore take was $ 29M. Overall, this was the 2nd best year for French movies abroad in two decades. Still performing solidly this week, despite depression in the market, is La Famille Bélier which has amassed about 4M admissions.
UK
As noted above, American Sniper had a record debut for a Clint Eastwood film in the UK with $ 3.6M from 429 screens. The director’s Gran Torino remains his 2nd biggest opener here. Taken 3 snatched $ 5.5M from 800 locations and The Theory Of Everything calculated $ 3.5M for a 17-day total of $ 18.1M. In other holdovers, Paddington bore down on another $ 1.4M for a $ 51.5M cume.
Germany
Johnny Depp’s Mortdecai charms his way into Germany next weekend as does Disney’s Oscar-nominated Big Hero 6. With Warner Bros’ local title Honig Im Kopf atop the box office now for four straight weeks, it will be interesting to see who (if anyone yet) has the muscle to knock director/writer/star Til Schweiger off that perch.
Nancy Tartaglione
