
UPDATE, WRITETHRU with actuals: Sony’s Inferno sparked to a strong $50M offshore opening this frame to lead the international and worldwide box office two weeks ahead of its domestic bow. Aided by the continued performance of Fox’s Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, along with some solid holdovers and a handful of films out of Asia, the weekend is a 10% improvement over last across the Top 10. The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons follow-up comes seven years after the latter film and a week before Tom Cruise-starrer Jack Reacher: Never Go Back hits offshore turnstiles beginning Wednesday.
Also notable this frame, Bridget Jones’s Baby crossed the $50M mark in the UK, and has become Working Title’s biggest film ever in the UK with a $54M cume. It’s also the biggest WT movie ever in the Netherlands at $8.1M — breaking a record held by Notting Hill for 17 years.
The frame overall was nevertheless down 18% versus last year when Ant-Man had supersized with a $40M+ start in China while The Martian and Hotel Transylvania 2 continued to sprout strong overseas numbers.
Further on deck next week is Trolls, notably in Germany and the UK. Fox’s comedy Keeping Up With The Joneses opens in 20+ markets including the UK and Australia and The Accountant expands.
Breakdowns have been updated below the original post.
PREVIOUS: The big addition to international markets this weekend was Sony’s Inferno with a $50M start in 53 markets. The Ron Howard-helmed threequel adapted from Dan Brown’s 2013 book bowed to No. 1 in 45 and is the top movie worldwide this frame. Sony says Inferno is currently tracking 8% above Jason Bourne which it’s comping in the same group of markets at current exchange rates. In IMAX, the launch was worth $2.6M on 239 screens for the company’s 2nd best international October opening ever. Howard again produces with Brian Grazer.
Tom Hanks returns to star as Professor Robert Langdon. This time, he wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia and teams up with Dr Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), as they race across Europe to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half the world’s population.
Key markets releasing included the UK, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Spain and Italy where the movie was partly shot. On a $75M budget, the thriller comes in at half the cost of the previous franchise entries. The first, in 2006, was coming off the mega-bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, and grossed $540M offshore. Follow-up Angels & Demons dropped to $353M. The opening on Inferno is 81% of what Angels & Demons did when it debuted, using today’s dollars.
The biggest markets on the previous films were a mix of Japan, Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain.
Sony’s global marketing and distribution chief, Josh Greenstein, tells Deadline, “There’s a lot of love out there for Inferno — the film is playing tremendously in cities around the world, with big markets like South Korea, France, Japan and China still to come. Seven years after the most recent film, Ron, Brian and Tom have reinvigorated the franchise in a way that really speaks to a global audience.”
Also new this weekend is Warner Bros’ domestic champ, The Accountant, with a $3.2M start in Korea and nine smaller markets. In holds, Fox’s Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children has flown well past $100M with $130.9M to date offshore. Last week‘s new entry The Girl On The Train has now rolled to $33.2M overseas while Bridget Jones’s Baby is nearing the $150M mark abroad and The Secret Life Of Pets is sidling up to $500M.
In China news, Steven Spielberg’s The BFG entered the Middle Kingdom on Friday and is looking at an unofficial $13.8M for the weekend in 2nd place. We are waiting on an official number.
NEW
INFERNO
The first film in the series was so anticipated that a specially decked out Eurostar was chartered to bring the cast to the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. It went on to gross $758M globally. Sequel Angels & Demons chanted up $489M worldwide in 2009, similarly off of a May bow. Neither film was particularly well-reviewed although Angels & Demons came in higher on the Tomatometer at 37% versus Da Vinci’s 25%. It’s early to extrapolate an RT score on Inferno given there are only 46 reviews counted, but it’s currently at 24%. Regardless, the want-to-see factor remains high — Brown’s novels are published in 56 languages around the world with over 200 million copies in print and Inferno was a big bestseller set against Dante’s circles of Hell.
The lead market on Inferno is Italy with a $5M bow. This follows the world premiere in Florence and location shooting there and in Venice. Italy has ranked in the Top 5 on the previous films in the series. Germany took $4.4M on 766 screens and is in a tight race for No. 1 with Finding Dory. Russia similarly opened to $4.4M, 1,900 screens. The UK bowed to $3.8M on 850 and Spain cashed in $2M on 525. Both the UK and Spain have also previously figured in the Top 5 overall markets. There’s competition in Spain, however, with local son JA Bayona’s A Monster Calls holding on to No. 1 again. The Netherlands scored $1.2M on 125 screens.
Inferno fired up Latin America with No. 1 openings in all 11 markets, earning a combined $9M, which is 91% bigger than the opening of Jason Bourne. Brazil led with $4M (including previews) from 829 screens, followed by Mexico’s $2.6M from 1,945 screens.
South East Asia saw No. 1s in six out of seven markets for a combined $6M. Among the starts were Taiwan ($1.7M/180 screens), India ($1.3M/1,025) and Indonesia ($1M/200). Australia launched with $1.8M from 367. Inferno opened to No. 1 across the Middle East for a regional total of $1.8M on 80.
Upcoming major releases on include Korea (October 19), China (October 28), Japan (October 28), and France (November 9).
The previous two films in the franchise are the best international performers ever for Hanks who is also currently playing a savior of a different sort in Warner Bros’ Sully which has landed $57.2M to date overseas.
THE ACCOUNTANT
Taiwan scored $772K on 101 screens. The first outing more than doubled the results for comps Argo, The Town and The Girl On The Train. In other comps, it’s higher by 26% than Jack Reacher and 5% beyond Gone Girl. Korea was the major market bow in a very competitive field of local and offshore fare. The opening generated $355K on 380 screens, outperforming the debut of Affleck’s The Town by 33%, but falling well short of Gone Girl which was a huge hit there. Hong Kong grossed $329K on 45 screens for No. 1 and topping The Magnificent Seven which likewise rode into town this frame. The score is also 171% over The Town, 130% above Argo and 5% tougher than Jack Reacher.
Germany, Brazil and Spain open next weekend on the Gavin O’Connor-directed pic.
AMERICAN HONEY
Germany bowed to $92K at 87 dates and German-speaking Switzerland brought in $25K at 11 dates. Arnold has twice won the Jury Prize before and is a critical darling. The more commercial American Honey will look to tap into a younger audience to better her previous outings, Red Road and Fish Tank. Universal’s next major releases are Australia on November 3 and Spain on November 11.
HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children welcomed another $23.5M from 77 markets in the third frame. The Fox film from Tim Burton now has an international cume of $131M. Holds were strong, including in France (-27%) where it is again No. 1 with a $9.3M cume, and Korea where it’s holding the top spot amongst MPA titles with a cume of $18M.
The UK is currently the 2nd biggest market behind Korea with a 42% drop for $11.5M to date. Russia follows with $11.4M and No. 2 in the sophomore session. Elsewhere, Germany dipped 21% to cume $5.2M; Brazil slid 24% for $8.2M to date; and Mexico is at $8.95M.
Italy enrolls in December and Japan follows in February next year.
STORKS
BRIDGET JONES’S BABY
In the UK, Bridget is cradling a $54M total after 31 days and holding at No. 5 in the 5th frame. This is now Working Title’s biggest UK release ever. In the Netherlands on Wednesday, the film became the highest-grossing Working Title picture of all time with $8.1M — passing Notting Hill, which held the record for 17 years. Korea is holding No. 4 with a $5.6M total thus far.
Studiocanal has France and the No. 2 slot at the box office this weekend with a 12-day total of $7.3M. Bridget, Mr Darcy and Jack are due in six more territories over the next two months including German-speaking Switzerland and Indonesia this week. The next major is Japan on October 29.
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
FINDING DORY
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS
DEEPWATER HORIZON
Lionsgate’s Mark Wahlberg-starrer dug up another $5.68M in 71 markets. The international cume is now $36.9M with $86.2M worldwide. France was the new opener this frame with $1.1M on 323 screens. The next majors are due in November including Brazil, Germany and Spain.
A MONSTER CALLS
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
DON’T BREATHE
Taking the offshore cume to $58.9M in 33 markets, Sony’s chiller pulled in $3.4M this weekend. Holding well in Korea, it’s at No. 3 in the 2nd frame for a local total of $6.8M.
BAD MOMS
NOTEWORTHY/MISC UPDATED CUMES
Radin! (MARS): $2.7M weekend (France); $17.1M France cume
L’Odyssée (WBUNCH): $2.5M weekend (France); Lambert Wilson-starring biopic of Jacques Cousteau
Sausage Party (SNY): $2.2M intl weekend (28 markets); $35.7M intl cume
Jason Bourne (UNI): $1.5M intl weekend (13 markets); $248M intl cume
Sully (WB): $1.3M intl weekend (39 markets); $57.3M intl cume
Kubo And The Two Strings (UNI): $1.1M intl weekend (26 markets); $17.5M intl cume; $64.9M WW
M.S. Dhoni (FOX): $950K (India only); $24.8M India cume
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