International Round Up: Scoob Starts Snacking at the Box Office
July 16, 2020
We are still waiting for a real return to normalcy in any major box office market, but at least we had a major Hollywood release testing the waters this past weekend. Okay, maybe calling Scoob! a major Hollywood release is stretching things, but it is also a bigger release than many international markets have seen in months. The film earned $1.8 million in five markets, led by $900,000 during its second-place debut in France.
Overall, the top ten in France grew by 23%, aided by a local comedy, Tout Simplement Noir, which earned first place in its native market. Scoob! was playing in only one other major market, Germany, where it earned third place with $170,000 in 209 theaters. On the other hand, it earned first place in the Netherlands with $324,000 on 187 screens.
South Korea has nearly completely reopened with 98% of its theaters in operation. Unfortunately, that didn’t help its box office this weekend, as it was down 39% from last weekend, and the top ten pulled in just $2.08 million. However, this coming weekend should be a lot better with the opening of Peninsula, the follow-up to Train to Busan. That movie was monster hit back in 2016 and the sequel was one of the most anticipated movies for the market this year, and widely assumed to be competitive with Hollywood blockbusters. Let’s hope it has a truly massive opening, as it gets to have theaters practically to itself.
We saw positive results in a number of major markets, including the United Kingdom, which saw its top ten rise 64% to $262,000. Granted, only about 15% of its theaters are open, so the market has a long way to go. Likewise, the Italian top ten jumped 61%, but it only hit $129,000 with just 13% of its theaters showing movies at the moment. On the other hand, New Zealand is much closer to returning to normal with its top ten pulling in $550,000 over the weekend, up 52% from last week, despite no new releases there. Germany is up 33% to $1.38 million. Just over half of the country’s theaters are showing films, so it still has a way to go, but growth like this is helpful.
On the other hand, the Netherlands was mostly flat—up just 6% to $1.18 million, this despite Scoob! opening in first place in the market.
Australia was also up modestly, rising 5% to $1.06 million, but there is some terrible news, as a spike in infections hit Melbourne, and that has caused a six-week shutdown to go into effect there. Japan was down this week, albeit by a rather small amount to $950,000. However, like Australia, the country has been hit by resurging COVID-19 cases in many cities and this is a much greater concern. Theaters have barely opened again and if they have to shut down again, it could be devastating to the market for months to come. Moviegoers won’t risk going to the theaters even if the government says it is safe. Unfortunately, this is what is happening in Hong Kong starting this coming weekend. This is too bad, as the market seemed to have been doing well until recently.
Filed under: International Box Office, Scoob!, Busanhaeng, Ban-do