2ND UPDATE, 4:43 PM PT: Despite some strong performances, and new benchmarks reached this weekend, it was a somewhat slow affair across the international marketplace. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came back out of its shell to make a $ 26.5M debut in China and added $ 34.7M total to win the weekend. It was followed by The Maze Runner with $ 13.7M in China and $ 23.8M overall, crossing the $ 200M international box office mark in the process. Guardians Of The Galaxy leapfrogged Maleficent to become 2014’s No. 2 movie globally, and a host of films fed frights into the Halloween holiday including Annabelle, Dracula Untold and Ouija. Around this time last year, the major movies included Thor: The Dark World, which hammered out a $ 109.4M overseas opening before its domestic release, and Gravity, which continued its worldwide orbit.
Next weekend, we head to outer space again when Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated Interstellar starts a massive global roll out. Nolan’s last non-Batman film as director, 2010’s Inception, earned about $ 533M of its roughly $ 825M from offshore markets. Back then, its top market was China, but Interstellar won’t bow there until November 12. Other key territories were Nolan’s homeland the UK, Japan (release November 22), France and Korea. Across Europe, and notably in France, the UK, Germany and Spain next week, Hollywood is staying out of Interstellar’s trajectory with no other new major studio releases. In some smaller markets, though, the latest Jason Blum production, Jessabelle, will look to spirit up a counterprogramming alternative. Other counterprogrammers like Big Hero 6 and The Boxtrolls, will also expand in some of the Interstellar markets. I’ll be back with updated actuals tomorrow on all of this weekend’s studio films plus notable indies in various markets. In the meantime, see below the original post for some noteworthy local movies including Indian birthday boy Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year and China’s Kung Fu Jungle.
1ST UPDATE, 12:33 PM PT: Fox, Sony and Warner Bros have now weighed in with their international weekend estimates which have been added to the original post below. Fresh off the news that it has set a new industry box office record, Fox had this week’s second-biggest overseas picture with The Maze Runner, which earned $ 23.8M to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ $ 34.7M. Both pics were buoyed by debuts in China. Fox’s Gone Girl added a $ 15.3M dose of box office with increases in some markets, and Warner’s Annabelle continued her scare tactics to come thisclose to $ 150M. See below for more with further updates to come.
PREVIOUS, 10:11 AM PT: This weekend’s notable activity included Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Fox’s The Maze Runner entering China along with other expansions. Nightcrawler also began its overseas run in the UK and some smaller markets. Among the big holdover results is that Guardians Of The Galaxy has now surpassed Maleficent to become the 2nd highest grossing film of 2014 globally, behind only Transformers: Age Of Extinction. More on that, the Turtles‘ $ 26.5M bow in China and other weekend warriors below. Numbers will be updated throughout as they arrive from Fox, Sony and Warner Bros.
Guardians Of The Galaxy has now been on release in China for 23 days and has lifted its cume there to $ 94.3M with an added $ 2.4M this frame. Overall overseas, the weekend was worth $ 4.1M with all territories now released. Guardians has found much favor in the Middle Kingdom which loves the Marvel brand – and has made the movie Disney’s 3rd most successful title ever in the market. China is also the top ex-U.S. play for the film, doubling the UK take ($ 47.5M) which is the next highest figure among overseas territories. The international cume now stands at $ 435.7M with a worldwide tally of $ 765.07M. That takes GOTG past the total of Disney’s own Maleficent ($ 759M), and makes the James Gunn-helmed space romp the second highest grossing film of 2014 to date globally. Guardians will get one more frame out of China where the typical window is four weeks.
Also in China, the Ninjas on the half shell rolled in on Halloween and scored a No. 1 $ 26.5M opening frame. That contributed to an overall $ 34.7M offshore weekend in 31 territories. The international total is now $ 244M and the global haul is $ 434.52M through Sunday.
Playing at 4,750 locations in China, TMNT was up against Fox’s The Maze Runner and Paramount’s own Hercules in a crowded month in the Middle Kingdom. The latter film tapered off quickly, earning only $ 816K internationally this weekend from 5,091 locales for an international cume of $ 168.3M. Numbers on Maze Runner are still to come.
Elsewhere, TMNT held well in the UK, adding $ 2.3M from 510 dates for a $ 18.9M total. France was off 35% in its 3rd weekend with $ 2.3M at 568 sites. The total there is now $ 13M. Germany served up a slight 24% decline 
with $ 1.6M in the 3rd frame. That’s expected to be worth a No. 3 slot behind The Maze Runner and new entry, Love Rosie, the romantic comedy that stars Lily Collins and Sam Claflin and was produced by Germany’s Constantin. TMNT still has Japan to go, but that won’t be until February 7 next year.
Fox’s The Maze Runner sped into China this frame with $ 13.73M from 3,700 screens. That gave the movie 2nd place behind Turtles which had about 1,000 more screens. In all, TMR added $ 23.8M this weekend with the cume surpassing $ 200M to $ 209.5M. The Wes Ball-helmed sci-fi actioner is going gangbusters in France where it is No. 1 for the 2nd week in a row off only an 18% drop. The cume there is $ 18.7M making France the film’s biggest ex-U.S. territory. A local distributor this week praised the movie’s marketing campaign and the concept which have very easily translated to strong audience numbers. It’s also playing great in Germany where it’s also No. 1 again and had a miniscule 3% drop. The cume there is $ 6M. Behind France and China, the UK is the biggest overseas play for TMR with a cume of $ 12.47M. Venezuela was a new market with $ 564K at 29 dates, No. 2 behind Annabelle.
Gone Girl traced another $ 15.3M this frame for a total of $ 142.9M. Korea can’t get enough of the David Fincher pic, upping the frame by 10% over last week’s opening. It grossed an estimated $ 4.13M on 684 screens, elevating its cume to $ 9.34M. In France, the film only dropped 4% making $ 1.78M on 428 screens for a total of $ 11.52M. The UK is still the lady’s best market with $ 31.2M to date, followed by Australia with $ 19.12M. Meanwhile, India opened with an excellent $ 611K from 155 screens.
Rolling into Russia, Brad Pitt-starrer Fury had a solid $ 3.3M opening on 900 screens. That was good for No. 2 in the market where family animation Big Hero 6 is tops during the school holiday period. It also bested by 69% the opening of Quentin Tarantino’s war-themed Inglourious Basterds, in which Pitt starred. In Ukraine, it was No. 1 with $ 410K on 167 screens and in Finland, it earned $ 160K on 63 screens, also a No. 1. Among holdovers, the UK was off 39% in the 2nd frame with $ 2M for a $ 9M cume; Australia was down 27% to $ 1.6M and a $ 4.8M total at No. 1; France dropped 33% with $ 1.4M and a $ 4.3M cume; the Netherlands slipped 26% to $ 500K and a $ 1.4M cume — but maintained 1st place; and Belgium was up 4% to $ 400K for a $ 912K take thus far. In total, Sony’s WW II movie earned $ 14.6M in 44 markets, bringing the overseas cume to $ 37.8M. SPRI markets grossed an estimated $ 10.8M, giving Sony a cume of $ 28.1M. The QED International markets collected an estimated $ 3.8M with a cume of $ 9.7M.
Warner Bros’ doll of a tale, Annabelle, scared up another $ 13.5M on a weekend that was tailor-made for horror. There were approximately 2,780 admissions on nearly 6,000 screens in 62 markets. The Conjuring spinoff is a hair’s-breadth away from the $ 150M mark at $ 149M in overseas box office. There were no new openings this frame, giving the take even more heft. Mexico remained No. 1 with an estimated $ 3.4M on 2,082 screens. The cume to date is $ 16M, which is 50% ahead of The Conjuring at the same point in release. In Peru, the New Line Cinema title continues to set records with an estimated gross of $ 739K ranking it as the biggest 2nd weekend of all time for both the horror genre and Warner Bros. Remaining at No. 1, Annabelle now has $ 2.7M in Peru. The major market cumes are: Mexico ($ 16M), Brazil ($ 13.8M), France ($ 12.1M), the UK ($ 11.4M) and Korea ($ 6.7M) – it’s worth noting that Malaysia is the 6th biggest market with $ 5.3M.
Expanding to Italy and Japan, Dracula Untold bit into an overall estimated international weekend of $ 12.4M at 6,400 dates in 61 territories. The offshore total is now $ 136.1M and the worldwide total is $ 188.9M. The Universal release sucked up $ 3M in the Halloween frame in Italy with a No. 1 debut at 235 dates and 25% market share. Japan opened with $ 1.4M at 308 dates, which Universal says is in line with expectations. Brazil was a strong hold at No. 1 for the second week in a row with $ 2.3M at 380 dates and an 11-day total of $ 6.4M. Spain mirrored that, also holding at No. 1 with $ 1.2M at 286 dates for a 10-day total of $ 4.9M. Venezuela will be the final market for the vampire backstory on November 21.
After nine days on release in Russia, Disney Animation Studios’ Big Hero 6 has earned $ 10.3M – the 2nd frame was up 1% over the previous weekend with an estimated $ 4.8M. Russian kids are currently on school holiday and the story of the special bond that develops between an inflatable robot and a child that’s directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams next weekend travels to many more major markets, including the U.S. It won’t get to Japan, which figures heavily in the story, until December 20.
Lionsgate’s John Wick was the No. 6 movie domestically this weekend with a $ 7.8M estimated three-day. Overseas, the Keanu Reeves action thriller added $ 6.6M from 34 territories for an early cume of $ 8M. France, where it looks like the biggest new opener, scored $ 1M from 198 screens in a market that has The Maze Runner over-performing and local hit Samba still in release. John Wick is also off to a good start in Australia where it grossed close to $ 1M from 175 screens to rank at No. 3. After opening in two selected sites last weekend in Mexico, the David Leitch/Chad Stahelski-helmed pic expanded to 312 screens and raised the total in the market to $ 737K. The next major market is Brazil on November 27.
As Lucy’s run winds down, the Universal weekend estimate is $ 150K from 300 dates in 26 territories. Combined with the EuropaCorp territories (notably China) the international weekend estimate is $ 6.6M for an offshore cume of $ 317M. The worldwide total is $ 443.5M.
The Book Of Life held well over the Day of the Dead weekend with $ 6.1M across 20 markets. The Fox film now has $ 29.4M in overseas box office. The UK dropped only 3% earning $ 1.54M in a very crowded market to take its cume to $ 6.26M. Mexico’s 3rd weekend brought it to $ 8.9M – the biggest international territory for the Jorge R Guttierez-directed animation.
Spelling out $ 5.7M at 1,166 dates in 19 territories, domestic No. 1 Ouija raised its international total to $ 7.7M. The worldwide cume is now $ 42.7M. Halloween helped scare up strong Ouija debuts in the UK, Indonesia and the Philippines where the Universal spirit board pic was No. 1. The $ 2.2M UK bow is the second biggest opening weekend for a horror film in 2014, behind only Annabelle. Universal puts Ouija slightly ahead of Ninja Turtles, although Paramount has TMNT at $ 2.3M, so the race for No. 1 in Britain will be tight. The Netherlands, Sweden, Vietnam, UAE, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries had good openings in the Top 10. Universal allows that Hong Kong and India – where there is strong local product on release — came in below expectations. Russia gets in on the game on November 13.
The Judge drew $ 4.3M from over 2,800 screens in 46 territories this frame. That gives the Robert Downey Jr/Robert Duvall drama an international cume to date $ 29M. The David Dobkin-helmed pic did not open in any new markets, but had good holds in Italy with a 17% drop for $ 890K on 297 screens and a $ 2.3M cume; Mexico, with $ 606K on 366 screens ($ 1.8M cume); and Taiwan with $ 430K on 73 screens ($ 2.3M cume). Russia is still the top market for the film with $ 4.1M to date.
Denzel Washington in The Equalizer grossed an estimated $ 4.1M from 62 territories this weekend. The overseas total is now $ 84.5M with $ 77.3M for Sony Pictures Releasing International and $ 7.2M for Village Roadshow. The increasingly reliable Venezuela opened to $ 400K on 53 screens, No. 3 in the market, and by far Washington’s biggest bow there. Thailand was No. 1 with $ 270K on 100 screens, 28% above the opening of 2 Guns. There were also solid holds in key markets led by Germany, which fell off just 11% in its 4th frame, taking $ 1.1M for a $ 7.7M cume. Spain dipped 18% in its 3rd frame ($ 415K/cume $ 3.3M) and Japan fell off 30% in its 2nd frame ($ 485K/$ 2M).
Laika Entertainment’s The Boxtrolls, which Universal is distributing internationally, grossed an estimated $ 3.5M at 3,400 dates in 47 territories over the weekend for a total of $ 47.8M. Spain opened at No. 2 with $ 898K, including last week’s previews, at 297 dates. It’s the top family film in the market and had the best Saturday-over-Friday increase (+293%) in the Top 10. The opening is 53% above Laika’s own Paranorman and 18% below Coraline. Peru opened No. 4 with a very good $ 203K at 76 dates. The Boxtrolls come above ground in Argentina, Korea and Uruguay on November 6.
Disney’s Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day had a good hold in the UK, dropping 11% from last weekend in a frame in which over a dozen movies were released. The international session was worth $ 1.8M in 21 territories for a cume to date of $ 15.9M and a worldwide gross of $ 69.53M. New openings this week included Greece, South Africa and Peru while next weekend sees bows in Spain, Portugal and Turkey. The UK is currently the top market for the family film with Mexico close behind.
Nightcrawler creeped into overseas release this frame with an estimated $ 1.77M from the UK, Malaysia, Denmark, Finland, Israel and Bulgaria. Released by eOne in the UK, it took $ 1.5M on 411 screens. Dan Gilroy’s low-budget thriller placed in the middle of a field of comps that includes Jake Gyllenhaal-starrers Prisoners among the pics above it, and End Of Watch below it. Nightcrawler, which has been in a Halloween showdown with Ouija in the U.S., opened in Israel to $ 112K on 15 screens; Denmark with $ 60K on 42 screens; Finland with $ 31K on 5 screens; Malaysia with $ 44K on 50 screens and Bulgaria with $ 7K on 16 screens. Upcoming releases on the film that was sold by Sierra/Affinity overseas, include Belgium, the Netherlands, Mexico and India.
Noteworthy: China, India, France
After earning $ 20M in China last weekend, Lucy continued in the market, although we do not have figures broken out for what was approximately a $ 6M haul. The Middle Kingdom was crowded this weekend with both that actioner and Guardians Of The Galaxy still on release, joined by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Maze Runner in their first sessions. Kung Fu Jungle also opened in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia among other markets and earned $ 9.3M in its debut frame. Star Donnie Yen plays a police force martial arts instructor who is imprisoned after accidentally killing a man. When a vicious murderer starts targeting martial arts masters, he offers to help the police in return for his freedom. Yen is currently shooting Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend. The next week in China will see no new Hollywood releases, although Penguins Of Madagascar arrives the following week as does Interstellar. In local pics on deck, there’s romance For Love Or Money with K-Pop star Rain in his Chinese feature debut, The Four 2’s Yifei Liu and Joan Chen on November 7. Also on the 7th in Hong Kong is Gangster Payday with Anthony Wong Chau-Sang who’s one of the local actors risking a Mainland backlash by standing up for the Occupy movement.
As for Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year, distributor Yash Raj is not releasing figures, with numbers instead coming through SRK’s production company Red Chillies Entertainment which is expected to report tomorrow. According to local estimates, though, HNY made approximately $ 26M in India in its first week. Factoring in overseas, that figure rises to about $ 30.2M. On the all-time list of best opening weeks, HNY is No. 4 in India at 157.57 crore, per Bollywood Hungama which places Dhoom 3, Krrish 3 and Kick above it. Today is SRK’s birthday, and the mega-star posted the photo at left to his Twitter account today. The crowd is made up of birthday well-wishers. I’m never less than amazed and awed by the relationship Bollywood stars have to their fans. SRK tweeted, “Have spent the whole day & last night waving to the sea of loving ppl who collected outside the house. Thanx for making my B’Day so special.” Later, he added, “This truly is turning out to be a ‘Happy New Year’…”
In other local pics, France’s Samba added another $ 3M this frame although it’s facing stiff competition from The Maze Runner which has been enthralling audiences while kids were on two weeks of school holidays. From The Intouchables directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, Samba entered the Top 20 for the year at No. 19 with just over 1.7M admissions ahead of this weekend. It’s helping keep the balance of French movies at the top of the chart. Nine are now local titles, three of which occupy the first three slots: Qu’Est-ce Qu’On A Fait Au Bon Dieu?!, Supercondriaque and Lucy.
Nancy Tartaglione
