Smiths Still Strong on International Scene

August 21, 2005

The International Details column is a little shorter than I would like, but there's a really good reason. Two of them, actually. Firstly, some computer glitches caused me to lose about three hours of work earlier in the day and secondly, there's no numbers from Italy out this week. Hopefully next week we will have the missing box office numbers.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened in first place in both the Czech Republic with $180,000 on 20 screens and in Slovakia with $50,000 on 8 screens. The film also remained in first place in France with $2.675 million, Belgium with $635,000, The Netherlands with $490,000 and Poland with $266,000. Strangest of all, the film stayed in second place for the fourth weekend in a row in Germany adding $2.12 million to its $20.6 million running tally in the market. Overall the film has made $143 million in markets where Fox is handling the distribution and may have hit $200 million overall, but there's no conformation on that yet.

• The Wedding Crashers had a monster first place opening in Australia with $3.3 million on 391 screens, more than 7 times its nearest competitor. It was a similar result in New Zealand with $365,000 on 58 screens and $1.0 million during its fifth weekend in the U.K. The film wasn't nearly as strong in France with just $1.175 million on 347 screens, barely enough for seventh place, showing that the film's success will likely be limited to English speaking markets. That still gives the film $30 million internationally and more than $200 million worldwide.
• Welcome to Dongmakgol remained in top spot in South Korea with despite five films opening in the top ten. This weekend it added $4.97 million to its $20.5 million running tally.
• Fantastic Four opened in third place in South Korea with a respectable $1,712,196 over the weekend and $2,716,098 since its midweek debut. That result was the largest single chunk of its $4.5 million international box office over the weekend, but the film also earned million dollar hauls in both France, ($1.46 million for a $13.9 million running tally) and the U.K., ($1.0 million for $19.9 million.) In total the film has now made $136 million and is closing in on $300 million worldwide.
• War of the Worlds was one of several films helped out by the Obon holiday in Japan, rising by 33% to $1.3 million for the weekend and $47.6 million during its seven week run. Adding in other markets and the film managed $4.1 million internationally for a $333 million international total.
• Leave When Clapping opened with a solid second place in its native market of South Korea with $3,718,538 on 295 screens over the weekend and $5,285,855 since its midweek debut.
• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith remained in first place for the sixth week in Japan with $2.85 million. During its run it has made $65.4 million in the market, which is almost as much as it made in the U.K., ($71.8 million.) Looking at the all time charts, its $449.5 million is still not enough to rise above 15th place, but is $828 million worldwide is enough to put in ahead of Spider-man and into 11th place on the Worldwide chart.
• The Transporter 2 fell by 40% during its second week to $1.93 million on 512 screens for a $5.15 million running tally.
• George A. Romero's Land of the Dead had a couple of openings over the weekend, its best in terms of raw dollars was in France where the film brought in $1.2 million on 258 screens, but finished in sixth place. On the other hand, it managed $200,000 on 18 screens in Hong Kong for a more respectable third place. Holdovers didn't help the film has is plummeted 60% in Australia to $190,000, 58% in New Zealand to $30,000, and 46% in Russia to $180,000. All told the film now has $6.1 million, the largest single market being Italy at $1.5 million.
• Skeleton Key's run has been below expectations so far and this weekend it was no different as the film managed just $1.7 million from 8 markets. It's best opening was $275,000 in Taiwan while in Norway in managed seventh place with $50,000, and both of those numbers included previews. In Sweden the film opened in ninth place with $113,000 on 22 screens. Its best market was France where it lost nearly half of its opening landing at seventh place with $500,000 on 246 screens. That gave the film $9.8 million internationally, $4.125 million of which has come from the U.K.
• Crash managed a third place debut in the U.K. with $1.485 million instantly making the market the top money maker for the film. On the other hand, it lost half of its opening in Germany slipping to 8th with $230,000.
• Sympathy for Lady Vengeance fell by 60% to $1.5 million during the weekend and $21.25 million so far making it one of the highest grossing films of the year in that market.
• Robots is just wrapping up its run with $925,000 in Japan and $300,000 in South Korea. Internationally the film has made $127.4 million and should top its domestic total by this time next week.
• The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl slipped to fourth place in Brazil with $590,000 on 159 screens. It held up better in Russia landing on second place with $385,000 and in Poland with $120,000 in third place. Overall the film has $8.4 million internationally but it is still early in its run.
• A Lot Like Love is doing better than expected in South Africa finishing the week with $118,000, which is nearly flat from last week. And it slipped just 24% during its second week in Brazil adding $327,000 to its $776,000 total in the market. On the other hand, it stumbled in its debut in France missing the top ten with $540,000 on 189 screens. Internationally the film has $19.2 million, just a couple million behind its domestic gross.
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy continues to do well despite being hampered by low theatre counts. It saw impressive growth in Sweden to $360,000 for the week on just 30 screens, it remained in first place in Finland with $130,000 on just 12 screens, and slipped less than 10% in South Africa to $94,000 on 27 screens. Add in $90,000 in Holland and $64,000 in Norway and its international total hit $45.2 million with plenty more markets left to open in.
• Valiant debuted in second place in both Norway and Finland with $167,000 and $110,000 on 47 and 41 screens respectively. Other openings include a fourth place, $200,000 debut in Hong Kong and a fifth place $180,000 opening in Sweden.
• Tom Yum Goong debuted in Hong Kong with a first place, $660,000 opening.
• Batman Begins saw considerable growth in Sweden for a $655,000 box office for the week and a total of $2.3 million so far. Without any more markets left to open it, it won't add much more to its $162.2 million international box office, but it is still a profitable film.
• Guess Who is holding up amazingly well in Spain dropping just 37% to $570,000 for the weekend, the best week-to-week performance in the top ten. That lifted its total in the market to $4.9 million and its international total to $27.1 million.
• The Perfect Catch, as it is being called internationally, made its debut in Britain last weekend but was far from perfect. It could finish no higher that ninth place with $495,000 on 180 screens. I guess they preferred the original version of the movie.
• Dark Water opened in Brazil over the weekend but only finished fourth with $130,000, despite being the home of director Walter Salles. It also added another $340,000 during its second week in Mexico and now has $1.74 million in the market and $5.6 million internationally.
• Monster-In-Law has been stuck in second place for the past three weeks in Australia, this week adding $460,000 to is $5.7 million running tally.
• The Rising opened in both the U.K. and Australia over the weekend. In the former market is managed a tenth place finish with $395,000 on just 73 screens while in Australia its per screen average was even better with $62,000 on 7 screens, however, it missed the top ten there landing in 13th place.
• Kicking and Screaming's opening in Australia was disappointing, to put it mildly, as the film managed just $355,000 on 179 screens over the weekend, ($500,000 including previews.) It really only had a decent shot at success in the English speaking markets, so unless something very unusual happens it and it adds to its $1.8 million international box office, it will need incredible home market numbers to show a profit.
• As expected, Stealth plummeted during its second weekend in the U.K. losing more than two thirds of box office landing at $310,000 for a $1.92 million two-week total. It has managed just $15 million internationally, $3.5 million of that coming from South Korea.
• Kung Fu Hustle's debut in Australia was mixed, it could only manage fifth place with $282,000 on 101 screens over the weekend, and $515,000 since its midweek debut. But with $98.3 million worldwide, that could be enough to reach $100 million internationally before its run is done, assuming it earns some decent legs.
• Cursed opened in sixth place in South Africa with $116,000 on 44 screens and barely hung onto tenth place in Brazil with $120,000 on 86 screens.
• The Devil's Rejects saw its opening box office free-fall to just $225,000, down 60%, which lifted its total in the market to $1.18 million.
• Going the Distance opened in third place in Russia with $215,000 over the weekend and $325,000 during the week.
• March of the Penguins won't be the phenomenon it was domestically on the international scene. This weekend in opened in South Korea with $150,000 on 60 screens over the weekend and $256,000 including Thursday. In Spain it fell 53% to just $37,000 over the weekend and $180,000 total. These are not bad results for a documentary, but not up to the incredible box office it earned domestically.
• In Good Company opened in South Africa with $113,000 on 27 screens, a reasonable start given its small screen count.
• Millions debuted Australia with $75,000 on 32 screens and slipped just 20% during its second weekend in New Zealand landing at $30,000 on 12 screens.
• Bewitched has spent its last weekend in the top ten in Australia adding $87,000 to its $7.42 million total.
• There was no good news for The Bad News Bears as it opened in 14th place in the U.K. with just $82,500 on 99 screens.
• The Jacket opened in semi-limited release in Australia but only managed $60,000 on 40 screens.
• The Perfect Man hung onto the tenth spot in The Netherlands dropping just 26% to $55,000. It's two-week total of $210,000 is tracking slightly better than Hilary Duff's previous film run.
• The Longest Yard opened in fifth place in Norway with $55,000 on just 10 screens. Its international total is now $16 million, half of that coming from Australia.
• The Amityville Horror opened in seventh place in Finland with $45,000 on just 10 screens. With $30 million at the international scene and a few more debuts next weekend, the film could hit $100 million worldwide before the summer is over.
• House of Wax debuted in Poland with a $40,000, eighth place finish on 24 screens.
• Son of the Mask just hunf onto the final spot in the top twenty in Spain with $27,500 on 88 screens over the weekend and $1.65 million in four weeks.
• The Upside of Anger slipped just 20% during its second week in Finland adding $27,000 on 5 screens to its $62,000 total so far.
• Dear Wendy fell 65% o just $17,500 during its second weekend in the U.K. barely hanging onto the final spot in the top twenty.
• Unleashed was D.O.A. in Norway making just $8,000 on 5 screens during its opening weekend.

Filed under: International Box Office, Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Wedding Crashers, Batman Begins, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Longest Yard, Fantastic Four, Robots, Monster-in-Law, La marche de l'empereur, Guess Who, The Amityville Horror, Bewitched, Crash, Kicking and Screaming, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Skeleton Key, In Good Company, The Transporter 2, Fever Pitch, The Bad News Bears, Stealth, House of Wax, Dark Water, Danny the Dog, A Lot Like Love, George A. Romero's Land of the Dead, Valiant, Cursed, The Upside of Anger, Kung Fu Hustle, The Devil’s Rejects, Son of the Mask, The Perfect Man, Tom yum goong, Millions, The Jacket, The Rising, Dear Wendy, Going the Distance, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D