‘La La’ Lands $268M WW; Leads Hollywood Frame Overseas – International Box Office

UPDATE, WRITETHRU, MONDAY PM PT with actuals: For the second frame in a row, Chinese New Year releases notched the Top 3 spots at the international box office, led by Jackie Chan’s Kung Fu Yoga at $51.4M ($178M cume). But offshore auds outside the Middle Kingdom embraced Hollywood heart, horror and thrills. Studio pics were led by Lionsgate’s La La Land which charmed its way to a better-than-estimated $20.3M more in the overseas songbook — down just 18% from last session. That twirls the candy-hued modern musical to $150M abroad and across the $250M global mark for a total $268M to date worldwide. Major market releases are still to come ahead of the Oscars — where it’s nominated 14 times.

Contrary to domestic, where the Super Bowl can run interference with multiplexes, most offshore territories are unaffected. Still, across the Top 5 Hollywood titles, the session was down 31% versus last frame. There hasn’t been a wide day-and-date Hollywood release in a few weeks and the international box office is expected to heat up considerably for the studios this coming weekend as Universal whips out Fifty Shades Darker, and Warner Bros’ The Lego Batman Movie clicks into place around the world.

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In the meantime, the horror column continued to draw this session. Sony/Screen Gems’ zombie franchise-closer, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, staked out $16.5M in 57 hubs. The pic will pass $100M overseas early this week. Paramount’s new/old scarer Rings ($15.5M) ran circles around some comps in its Latin America bows, including a No. 1 in Brazil that fast-forwarded it to the 2nd biggest horror launch ever in the market. The European majors were less engaged, although the weekend estimate lifted some in the actuals.

Continuing to walk with multiple personalities, Universal/Blumhouse’s Split, which won Super Bowl weekend Stateside, held offshore audiences captive for another $14M. That was down from the Sunday estimate, but just a 6% drop from last weekend as M Night Shyamalan scores some of his best-ever openings overseas.

Further, Par’s XXX: Return Of Xander Cage crossed the $100M international box office line this frame for $112.9M so far. It bows in China on Friday as New Year movies should begin to taper.

Action in the Middle Kingdom this weekend saw Kung Fu Yoga leap ahead of last week’s champ, Journey To The West: The Demons Strike Back. Chan marshalled a $51.4M weekend in 12 markets, per comScore. That brings the cume to $178M. Tsui Hark/Stephen Chow hook-up Demons crossed the $200M mark on a comScore reported $35.3M in the second frame. With $15.9M (RMB 109M) to date in IMAX, Demons is now the quickest local title to cross RMB 100M in the format. And, father-son story Duckweed knocked Buddies In India out of the Top 3 with $30M in the session for $90M to date.

(A word about Lunar New Year: the seven-day holiday from January 27-February 2 reached a record RMB 3.35B for $487M in China, according to film authority SAPPRFT. That tops last year’s RMB 3.08B. But it’s worth noting that official figures will now reportedly include fees paid to online ticketers, inevitably throwing off comps.)

In other local-language titles, Dany Boon’s cop comedy R.A.I.D. Dingue opened No. 1 in France and topped the coveted 1M admissions mark in its first frame. That’s the biggest opening for a local title since 2014’s Luc Besson-helmed Lucy. The Pathé pic is Boon’s 5th time out as director. His best launch is still 2008’s Welcome To The Sticks.

Breakdowns and actuals on films reporting this weekend are updated below.

NEW
RINGS

Resurrecting the horror franchise based on Hideo Nakata’s original 1998 Japanese pic Ringu, Paramount popped $15.5M in the overseas VHS player with F Javier Gutierrez’s new chapter. In the same markets, the result is better than recent original horror titles Don’t Breathe (+83%) and Lights Out (+41%), and 2015 reboot Poltergeist (+39%). Budgeted at $25M, the Matilda Lutz-starrer has a worldwide cume of $28.2M.

Of the 35 markets released this session, Brazil was particularly keen to revisit the universe of the mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after viewing. The opening there was $2.7M at No. 1 on 501 screens. That makes it the 2nd biggest horror debut ever behind last year’s hit The Conjuring 2.

The result came in 83% above Par’s pre-opening estimate as well as 355% above Woman In Black, 251% above Mama, 197% above Lights Out, 142% above Don’t Breathe and 42% above Poltergeist.

Similarly topping comps in Mexico, the launch was $2.2M at 722 cinemas for No. 2 (+96% v Don’t Breathe, +38% v Lights Out). Several other markets in horror-happy Latin America also outperformed expectations including Colombia ($654K/169 dates); Panama ($573K/90); Peru ($480K/89); and Chile ($376K/60 – 3rd biggest horror opening ever).

In Russia, Rings tossed in for No. 2 with $1.9M at 1,000 locations. That’s 33% below the pre-opening estimate, but above such comps as Don’t Breathe (+104%) and Lights Out (+7%). France was worth $1.4M in a crowded field for 83% over Don’t Breathe and 10% below Lights Out. The UK and Germany came in lower at No. 7 ($1M/391 sites) and No. 5 ($986K/304), respectively.

Given the distance between the first two American Ring movies (which released in 2002 and 2005), comps are not wholly clear for this opening. However, each of those pics saw ultimate domestic to international splits that were about even.

The next major releases are Spain on February 10, Australia on February 23 and Italy on March 16.

HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
LA LA LAND

With $20.3M from 72 markets, Damien Chazelle’s awards-season darling now has a $150M cume overseas. The global tally is $268M to date with China the next major market. It takes a bow there on February 14. Denmark, Norway and Japan follow.

Mexico launched wide this weekend for $2.2M on 706 screens including previews. In holds, France is a standout with a 26% drop in the sophomore session, despite added competition from Dany Boon’s local opener Raid Dingue. The total there is $8.2M. In Italy, where the movie debuted at the Venice Film Festival in late August, Ryan Gosling and Venice Volpi Cup winner Emma Stone are still No. 1 with a 18% drop in the 2nd frame and $4.6M to date.

Germany lifted 2% this session for a $7.7M after four weeks and in 2nd place. That’s the 4th frame in a row that the weekend has grown.

In the UK, LLL is now at $30.2M to become Lionsgate’s 4th biggest movie there ever, now passing The Hunger Games in local currency. Universal is releasing in Spain where the 24-day total is $9.9M (that figure is part of the overall totals cited above).

RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER

Sony/Screen Gems’ 6th installment in the franchise picked up $16.5M in 57 markets, including $1.3M from those handled by Constantin and Metropolitan. That takes the offshore cume to $95.6M, on track to cross the $100M by early next week. The Paul WS Anderson-helmed Final Chapter grossed $7.1M in 11 Asian markets to take the region to $63.5M including the earlier run in Japan. Four new plays debuted to a combined total of $2.5M, including No. 1 openings in the Philippines ($1.1M) and Singapore ($655K). Notable holdovers include Indonesia which maintained No. 1 for the 2nd weekend ($4.5M cume), along with Taiwan ($$6.7M cume) and Korea ($5.2M). Mexico’s cume is now $5.6M and Brazil’s is $4.7M. Russia and Italy are up next on February 16.

SPLIT

The James McAvoy-starrer captured $14M in 41 markets this frame for an international total of $43.4M. Combined with domestic where it is still tops at the box office in week 3, the worldwide total is $142M. There were 10 openings this session, highlighted by Taiwan where the No. 1 of $1.4M at 76 dates is the best debut ever for an M Night Shyamalan film. Universal’s release in Israel is Shyamalan’s best since 2010 with $184K at No. 2. In Egypt, Shyamalan had his best start ever and Uni got its 3rd at No. 1 with $74K/13.
Germany held the No. 1 spot for the 2nd week in a row with a dip of -8% for a total $5.8M. Split is also still tops in Spain with a 28% drop for a cume of $4.4M. Other notable cumes include Australia’s $5.5M and the UK’s $10.2M. There are still 24 territories to come over the next few months for the psychological thriller.

XXX: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

Ahead of its China debut next frame, Paramount’s XXX sequel rounded up another $12.9M in 61 markets. There were two new openings: Argentina ($520K/140 dates) and Belgium ($364K/70). The weekend lifted the international cume to $112.9M. Also still on deck for the Vin Diesel-actioner are Korea on February 9 and Japan on February 24.

SING

Harmonizing with another $12.6M in 61 markets, Illumination and Universal’s animated show crossed $225M on Monday interantionally for a worldwide cume of $487.8M. No new curtains went up this session. The UK in frame 2 took over the No. 1 spot on Saturday for the 2nd weekend in a row and brought in $4.4M for the three-day with an $17.8M cume thus far and ahead of school holidays. France is at No. 2 for a 12-day total of $9.4M as kids head off on school breaks. China joins the party on February 17, followed by Russia and Japan in March.

MOANA

Disney’s Moana is in her 11th offshore weekend with a $11.5M take in 36 material territories. The overseas cume is $312.8M for $553.3M global. New this frame, Norway gave Moana a No. 1 welcome that is higher than the opening of Finding Dory at $900K. Sweden was also No. 1 with $1.3M and Denmark came in 2nd place behind local comedy Alle For To with $700K and 40% above Dory and Zootopia. In Turkey, Moana is now the 3rd biggest animated film ever, passing Frozen to become Disney/Pixar’s biggest toon there ever.

THE GREAT WALL

Legendary and Universal’s fantasy actioner scaled another $6.1M in 33 markets this session. That takes Uni’s total offshore to $48.2M and the combined international total to $219.2M including $171M in China. In Mexico, the Matt Damon-starrer overtook Rings for No. 1 on Saturday with a full $2.5M at 723 dates over the weekend. The Netherlands and Ukraine were also first-place starts with $596K and $554K, respectively. Rollout continues with Australia, Korea, Russia and North America on the weekend of February 17.

HIDDEN FIGURES

Fox’s drama expanded this weekend to 18 more markets for a $4.5M frame in a total of 29. That lifts the early international cume to $8.1M with 7 of 10 majors still to come. In new plays, the Oscar nominee saw strong results in Brazil ($679K/267 screens) where it was twice the start of The Blind Side; and in Germany where it came in 37% higher than Lee Daniels’ The Butler ($701K/255). In holds, Spain dipped just 15% on strong word of mouth for a $2.27M cume to date; Taiwan slipped only 1% for a $1.3M cume and New Zealand was down 11% for No. 1 with $659K so far.

T2 TRAINSPOTTING

Danny Boyle’s sequel to the cult classic dipped 43% from its UK opening last weekend for $3.7M on 828 screens. Sony went first in the home territory on the reunion pic with a local cume of $13.4M. Rollout continues worldwide after Friday’s Berlin Film Festival screening.

ARRIVAL
In 32 Sony markets, Arrival beamed up another $3.2M from over 960 screens. The international cume is now $53.5M for SPRI. Korea opened to $2.6M on 600 screens in a crowded field. The start is 10% above District 9. Much farther down the line, on May 19, Japan makes first contact.

A DOG’S PURPOSE
The Universal release of Amblin Entertainment and Walden Media’s family pic wagged up $2.9M in 10 territories this weekend for a total $7.8M. Combined markets released by Mister Smith, the international total is $9.7M. Worldwide, it’s $42.3M. Notable openings include Argentina where the Dennis Quaid-starrer bested all comps with $362K. Mexico held with a 39% drop for a $3.7M cume. Universal has 20 total markets with the next openings in Malaysia and Taiwan on the weekend of February 23.

MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN
Opening in Japan, its final market, Tim Burton’s fantasy has now crossed $200M internationally. The weekend was worth $2.4M on 753 Japanese screens — 43% bigger than Maze Runner in the market. The total overseas is now $202.3M.

DOCTOR STRANGE

In its 2nd Japan session, Disney/Marvel’s Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer added $2.2M for a local cume of $9.5M. That takes it past the entire runs of Guardians Of The Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, Man Of Steel and X-Men: Apocalypse. The international total to date is $438.1M for $669.9M global. The global figure puts it just above Man Of Steel on the world stage.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTEWORTHY
Monster Trucks (PAR): $2.4M (29 markets); $26.6M intl cume
Why Him? (FOX): $2M intl weekend (46 markets); $55.2M intl cume
Passengers (SNY): $1.9M intl weekend (50 markets); $195.2M intl cume
Manchester By The Sea (UNI/SC): $1.87M (10 markets); $9.1M intl cume
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (DIS): $2M intl weekend (25 markets); $517.1M intl cume

Collateral Beauty (WB): $1.6M intl weekend (48 markets); $51.8M intl cume
Live By Night (WB): $1.2M intl weekend (46 markets); $10.6M intl cume
The Space Between Us (STX, var): $1M intl weekend (10 markets including Russia on par with Paper Towns)
Assassin’s Creed (FOX): $1.1M intl weekend (53 markets); $158.4M intl cume (China on February 24)
Allied (PAR): $709K intl weekend (20 markets); $73.6M intl cume
Loving (UNI): $282K intl weekend (2 markets); $298K intl cume