Hello, Dolly: ‘Annabelle: Creation’ Conjures $17.7M Through Friday Overseas

SATURDAY, UPDATE: New Line/Warner Bros’ Annabelle: Creation continued to come alive at the international box office on Friday. Takings were $8.1M on 6,878 screens in 39 markets. That brings the cume on the prequel spinoff to $17.7M through yesterday. This doll is opening to an estimated $36.7M domestically and will be in similar territory overseas. The previous Annabelle made over 67% of her ultimate box office abroad and there are still many majors to release on this one.

Penned by Gary Dauberman and directed by David F Sandberg, the fourth pic in the lucrative Conjuring franchise is coming in ahead of or on par with most comps. The UK was the biggest opener on Friday at $948K from 468 screens and landing No. 2. It’s level with both the previous Annabelle and The Conjuring.

Poland’s start topped all of the movies in the series, scaring up $529K on 159 in first place. Vietnam, meanwhile, joins other previous openers this week with the biggest launch day ever for a horror film.

In holds, A:C is maintaining the No. 3 spot in Korea where two local titles are dominating. The two-day cume is $2.7M. France, where Annabelle’s per-screen average is tops in the market, has a three-day of $1.8M.

Other plays include Indonesia (No. 1/$1.7M), Russia (No. 2/$1.1M), Australia (No. 1/$753K) and Scandinavia (No. 1 in the region/$1M).

We’ll have a full update for the weekend tomorrow.

FRIDAY UPDATE: Scaring up business in another 22 markets on Thursday, New Line/Warner Bros’ Annabelle: Creation now has a $9.5M cume in 30. As she continues to expand offshore this weekend, the doll’s dates resulted in $5.6M at the international box office on Thursday. Overseas on this one is particularly interesting to watch since the original Annabelle made over 67% of her cume outside the U.S.

The David F Sandberg-helmed scarer on Thursday scored the highest grossing opening day ever for a foreign horror title in Korea with $1.2M from 593 screens. It landed behind two local pics, where the market is performing despite diplomatic tensions which appear to have little impact on moviegoing.

Russia‘s debut was $582K on 1,246 screens for No. 2. The day surpassed the openings of all the previous films in the Conjuring franchise.

Australia posted $302K from 231 screens and ranked No. 1. The score is 28% ahead of The Conjuring and tracking close behind the opening of Annabelle-the-first.

Also noteworthy: Hong Kong provided the biggest opening day ever for a Hollywood horror film, and Portugal saw the best horror launch day ever.

In holds, France still had the highest per-screen average with $551K total from 73K tickets sold on 262 screens (it’s on less screens there than the other new entries to the market). The running cume is $1.3M.

Indonesia, a top market on this doll’s previous outing, cracked $546K on 744 screens Thursday to hold No. 1. The cume is $1M.

Sweden is also No. 1 again, with a two-day total of $338K on 88 screens to best all films in the franchise.

Nine more markets come to life today, including the UK.

UPDATE, WRITETHRU with additional detail: As New Line/Warner Bros’ Annabelle: Creation heads into wide overseas expansion this weekend, seven new markets on Wednesday scared up a host of No. 1 starts and set horror launch records in three plays. The takings lifted the international box office to a very early $4M cume. The fourth film in the Conjuring series, and the prequel to 2014’s Annabelle, grossed $2.3M yesterday. It had previously haunted just one market, Italy, opening to a $1.1M No. 1 last weekend. Overseas on this one is important as the original Annabelle made over 67% of its $256.8M worldwide cume outside the U.S.

The biggest launch on Wednesday was France where the R-rated horror film (which is restricted to over-12s locally) certainly found its audience. It grossed $775K from 103K admissions on 262 screens. The David F Sandberg-helmed scarer ranked No. 1 in Paris and No. 3 overall with the highest per-screen average by far of all films in release. The results are 38% ahead of the first Annabelle and 82% over The Conjuring, per WB.

Opening on a non-traditional Wednesday, Indonesia — which was a top market on the previous Annabelle — produced a solid $456K from its 572 screens at No. 1. The results doubled the opening day for Annabelle and tripled that of The Conjuring.

The studio also reported that Belgium, Iceland and Singapore each gave the Anthony LaPaglia/Miranda Otto-starrer “a decisive No. 1” launch with each scoring the biggest opening day ever for a horror title.

LaPaglia and Otto play a dollmaker and his wife whose daughter died 12 years earlier. They open their home to a nun, and several girls from a shuttered orphanage. But the new shelter turns horrific as possessed Annabelle sets her sights on the kids.

International box office on The Conjuring 2 rose more than 19% from the first film, while Annabelle made $173M overseas with Mexico, Brazil, France, the UK and Indonesia the biggest plays.

The genre film opened in 22 more territories today, including the key markets of Russia, Australia and Korea. In the latter, the unofficial early estimate is $1.17M through today for the top spot among non-local pics. Tomorrow, the studio will roll out the James Wan and Peter Safran-produced film into another nine markets, which will include the UK.