International Round Up: The Eight Hundred Lights Up Chinese Theaters
August 27, 2020
The international markets were dominated at the weekend by The Eight Hundred’s blockbuster release in China. It was expected to do well, but a a seven-day opening “weekend” of $113.4 million ($115.4 million including previews) is beyond expectations, given the 50% capacity restrictions in Chinese theaters. It is actually more than Hobbs & Shaw earned this time last year, and helped the box office more than triple compared to last week. Granted, Hobbs & Shaw only had four days at the box office and not seven, but this is still a spectacular opening.
Performance around the rest of the world was more mixed, but there are some hopeful signs as Tenet starts its long-anticipated rollout.
Back in China for a moment, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was pushed into second place with $4.18 million over the weekend for a total of $23.70 million after ten days of release. Onward had a disappointing third-place debut with $1.96 million over the weekend for a five-day opening of $2.61 million. Animated films do tend to struggle in China, with Trolls World Tour being another example. It also opened in China this past weekend, but it only managed tenth place with $551,000 over the weekend for a total debut of $665,000, including previews.
The box office declined 72% in South Korea from last weekend and it did so for two reasons. First, there were no major new releases. (Tenet did earn third place with $717,000, but that was during one day of previews.) Second, there has been a major uptick in new COVID-19 cases in the country. In fact, there are more daily new cases in Korea is higher than at any time since March. This is not the only country to suffer a second wave of cases, but it was seen as a model country with how well it dealt with the first wave, so it is a little disheartening. Hopefully this second wave ends as quickly as the first one did and doesn’t continue to grow. First place in the territory went to Deliver Us From Evil, which was down 79% to $1.41 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $30.72 million. Okay! Madam fell even faster—down 82% to just $816,000 over the weekend for a two-week total of $8.60 million.
Some countries joined China in showing signs of growth over the weekend. The United Kingdom market rose by 7% as Unhinged regained first place with $236,000 over the weekend for a total of $1.27 million after four weeks of release. The Netherlands was again led by Trolls World Tour with $352,000 over the weekend for a total of $1.48 million after three. This is down just 3%, which helped the top ten rise 13% from last weekend. Portugal’s top ten was up 18%.
Australia is also dealing with a second wave of COVID-19 cases, which is resulting in renewed restrictions, which explains why its top ten dropped 44% this weekend. No major releases didn’t help. Japan was also down, with its top ten 18% smaller than last weekend. On the other hand, a local film, Tapestry, opened with $3 million, making it one of the biggest hits of the weekend.
Tenet is just about to begin its international run, so perhaps this coming weekend will be a lot more positive.
Filed under: International Box Office, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Trolls: World Tour, Onward, Tenet, Unhinged, Daman Akeseo Guhasoseo, Okei! Madam