International Round Up: South Korea Leads the Way, Will the Rest of the World Follow?

July 23, 2020

Peninsula

The release at the weekend of Peninsula, the follow-up to Train to Busan, in South Korea gave us the first genuinely positive box office news in months. Some markets around Asia showed impressive relative growth. The studios are beginning to adapt to the uneven pace of recovery from the first (and hopefully, at least in some countries, last) wave of the pandemic. But there are also some notable weak spots. Here’s a round-up of current conditions at the international box office.

Peninsula, the follow-up to Train to Busan, had a record-breaking start in South Korea, earning $2.46 million on 2,338 screens on Wednesday. It then managed $1.56 million on Thursday, before expanding to 2,575 screens over the weekend, where it earned $9.24 million for a five-day debut of $13.26 million. How impressive is this performance?

It’s roughly half of what Train to Busan earned in its first weekend in wide release back in 2016. However, Peninsula also earned more in five days than the most recent South Korean number one, #Alive, earned in 26 days, and its opening is 77% higher than #Alive’s $5.2 million. So, while modest by historical standards, this is a weekend tally that sets a benchmark for the country moving forwards.

The South Korean top ten shot up 439% from the previous weekend, hitting $11.2 million from Thursday through Sunday. This is still 46% less than the top ten earned this weekend last year; however, that’s partly because there’s no depth this weekend. The Silence missed the top five during its opening last year, but it would have placed second this year. Peninsula also opened in a five other markets, and earned $21 million during its five-day debut. If there is a dark cloud over this film, it’s that its success could be overshadowed by the new reports regarding a couple of Hollywood releases.

First of all, Tenet has been pulled from the schedule domestically and Warner Bros. is saying the film will get a non-standard release. Most people are interpreting that to mean it will open internationally piecemeal style, rather than via a synchronized global debut. This means Peninsula could have massive competition well before the United States recovers from the pandemic. This is great news for the box office as a whole, which has been starved for major releases, even as markets begin to open.

The other news was less impressive, as Unhinged made its international debut with a thoroughly unimpressive $255,000 opening on 380 screens in Germany. That was still enough for first place in that market, but that’s due to the lack of real competition. Even taking into account the limited amount of theaters open, as just over half of theaters remain closed, this is a disappointing start. Furthermore, the top ten was down 10% from last weekend to just $1.24 million and we really don’t want to see the box office decline anywhere right now. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only major market to drop this week.

However, let’s talk about some good news first. Peninsula helped the top ten in Malaysia rocket up 318% from last weekend to $861,000. This shows that some of the markets that are struggling right now are not doing so due to lack of demand. There was mixed news in Spain, as its top ten doubled to $878,000; however Barcelona had to close its theaters and there’s talk of further disruptions as COVID-19 cases climb there. New Zealand also saw growth with its top ten rising 36% to $749,000, which is impressive given the lack of new releases. France saw its ticket sales grow by 15% to 600,000, while Italy’s top ten rose by 9% to $142,000. Finally, Saudi Arabia opened up with $555,000 from its top ten, led by The Hunt.

On the opposite side of the coin, Japan was down 45% to just $522,000 from its top ten. COVID-19 cases have been rising in the country in several key cities. The Netherlands was down 20% to 943,000. Australia and United Kingdom also dropped to $1.03 million and $253,000 respectively. In both cases, the top ten was down less than 10% from last week, so this isn’t a major decline, but still somewhat disappointing.

Overall, we’re seeing glimmers of hope around the world, but we still have a very long way to go before the theatrical market is viable again.

Filed under: International Box Office, Busanhaeng, The Hunt, Unhinged, Ban-do, #salaissda