It Chapter Two Balloons Franchise To $1B+; Downton Abbey Serves $12M Bow

UPDATE; writethru: New Line/Warner Bros’ It Chapter Two had its second reading at the global and international box office this weekend, after screaming to the 2nd highest worldwide opening ever for a horror movie last session. With the sophomore frame’s extra balloons, the franchise has now crossed $1B worldwide. The split on Chapter Two is currently $169.5M overseas and $153.8M domestic for a global take of $323.3M. String that onto the 2017 original and the two films combined have made $1.02B.

The Andy Muschietti-directed Chapter Two scared up another $47M this weekend in 78 offshore markets. It is holding the top spot at the international box office and was No. 1 in all of its debuts this session, also maintaining No. 1s in 52 hubs that bowed last session.

While the UK, at $16.5M, is Pennywise’s top market so far, he did cede the No. 1 spot there to Downton Abbey which grossed an estimated $6.3M in the home counties. The total weekend on this big screen transfer released by Universal is an estimated $11.7M from 17 markets. The Dowager Countess’ zingers also nabbed the top spot in Australia while much play is still to come, including in the U.S. next weekend.

In other new openers, STX’s Hustlers bowed in 15 overseas markets, shimmying to a $4.6M start. In the UK, the Jennifer Lopez pic was No. 3 with an estimated $1.7M from 477 locations to give STX its best debut to date there.

Elsewhere, Sony/Bona and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood has become the director’s 2nd highest-grossing movie ever worldwide with $329.4M to surpass Inglourious Basterds. The offshore portion is closing in on $200M with $192.5M so far.

Universal’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw banked a further $8.1M this weekend from 68 markets to lift the cume overseas to $572.6M and global to $740.9M. China is now at $196.1M.

Disney’s The Lion King has put a paw past $1.6B global with an added $6.9M offshore in the current frame for a $1.083B international cume and $1.617B worldwide. Notably, in Europe Middle East Africa, TLK has overtaken Avengers: Endgame to become the No. 4 release ever.

Breakdowns on the films above and more have been updated below.

NEW
DOWNTON ABBEY

A Focus Features and Carnival Films production distributed internationally by Universal Pictures, Downton Abbey, the movie, began offshore rollout via Universal this week in 17 markets including the UK where the film had its world premiere on Monday. The box office start there was $6.3M for No. 1 at 730 locations. This is above TV transfer Absolutely Fabulous (+25%), as well as period comps Darkest Hour (+26%) and The Favourite (+129%).

Australia, likewise, was a No.1 launch and well ahead of comps with $2.2M; Netherlands indexed above comps and rang in $685K from 136 locations at No. 2. There were also No. 1s in Finland ($608K/100 sites) and New Zealand ($502K/111), all above comps.

Most agree the film is a warm hug from favorite characters with a giant scale and intricate detail not seen on TV. Fans of the series — which was a global phenomenon that sparked a new worldwide age of British drama — are expected to embrace it. North America, where the Michael Engler-helmed movie opens this week, was one of the majors that helped push the TV saga to its heights (it won more Emmys than BAFTAs, and many of the cast and crew have told me in past years that they were stunned by the American response). As of two weeks ago in North America, Downton was on fire in pre-sales ahead of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and NBC and Focus are teaming on Return to Downton Abbey: A Grand Event one-hour special set to air a day before the extravaganza hits theaters Stateside. The challenge on this one will be in drawing an unschooled audience.

Overseas, next session notably adds Germany which should see a solid serving; France opens September 25. There are also several other international markets to come.

HUSTLERS

STX’s domestic champ opened in 15 overseas markets this session, overperforming in the UK and Russia, and shimmying to a $4.6M start. This lifts the global total to $37.7M. In the UK, the Jennifer Lopez pic was No. 3 with an estimated $1.7M from 477 locations to give STX its best debut to date. In Russia, the launch was No. 2 with $1.2M from 2K sites. That’s 6% ahead of STX’s A Bad Moms Christmas.

Elsewhere, Netherlands bowed to $370K from 86 sites, on par with A Bad Moms Christmas, while Israel boogied into No. 1 at $214K from 31 locations, 51% above Bad Moms 2, and 119% over A Simple Favor.

As Anthony has noted, talent (including JLo, Cardi B, Lili Reinhart and Constance Wu) have a considerable social reach with more than 318M worldwide fans.

Rollout continues from October through December in such majors as Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Germany.

HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS 
IT CHAPTER TWO

Now released in 78 international markets, Andy Muschietti’s star-studded follow-up to 2017’s Stephen King adaptation has grossed $169.5M for $323.3M worldwide. This weekend, like last, Pennywise was top clown overseas and added $47M from 20,449 screens in 78 markets. New openers were all No. 1s while 52 markets held the top spot. Crazy clown-like, the weekend also puts the two movies in the franchise over $1B global.

In launches, France welcomed the scary clown this session with $4.7M on 600 screens and Hong Kong grossed $935K from 83 to become the biggest opening weekend ever for a horror film in the market.

Germany was the best hold, with a 39% drop to cume $12.8M. The UK, however, is the lead market at $16.5M in 2nd place this frame behind Downton.

Overall, It2 continued as the No. I movie in Europe and Latin America this session; and as the top U.S. title in Asia (there are some local newcomers in both Korea and China).

The Top 5 overseas markets are: UK ($16.5M), Mexico ($16.1M), Russia ($13.9M), Germany ($12.8M) and Italy ($0.1M).

Japan is the last key market to release on November 1.

ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD

Sony/Bona’s Quentin Tarantino love letter to 1969 Hollywood scooped another $8.4M this weekend from 60 markets. The international cume is inching towards $200M, currently at $192.5M. Globally, the hot August nights that sparked this Cannes premiere have now led to $329.4M, overtaking QT’s Inglourious Basterds. Hollywood is now the 2nd highest grossing film in the director’s career.

Holdover markets overseas dropped just 39% this weekend and there is still Italy and Korea to come.

FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW

Universal’s spinoff is still spinning cash overseas with an $8.1M weekend to cume $572.6M abroad and $740.9M global. China remains the lead market at $196.1M after weekend 6. The film passed $700M last week, which star Dwayne Johnson even noted.

THE LION KING

Disney’s The Lion King has now crossed $1.6B globally and stands as the No. 7 movie of all time both worldwide and overseas. The current weekend was worth $6.9M offshore in 44 markets. The gross abroad for Simba is $1.083B; global is $1.617B.

TLK notably had a great hold in Spain this week (-9%) given this was the start of the school year for kids locally.

As noted above, in EMEA, TLK bested Avengers: Endgame to become the No. 4 highest grossing title of all time. Disney and Fox combined now have the top 5 films ever in EMEA with Avatar, Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Lion King and Avengers: Endgame. It’s good to be the king.

Top Five on TLK: China ($120.4M), UK ($90.8M), France ($78.6M), Brazil ($68.8M), Japan ($58.3M).

MISC CUMES/NOTABLE
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (SNY): $4.1M intl weekend (54 markets); $72.1M intl cume ($111.7M global)
Toy Story 4/em>(DIS): $2.8M intl weekend (25 markets); $625.5M intl cume ($1.085B global)
Dora And The Lost City Of Gold (PAR): $2.3M intl weekend (29 markets); $28.2M intl cume ($79.5M global)
Good Boys/strong> (UNI): $1.8M intl weekend (33 markets); $18.3M intl cume ($91.6M global)
The Secret Life Of Pets 2 (UNI): $1.3M intl weekend (33 markets); $269.7M intl cume ($428M global)
Yesterday (UNI): $1.2M intl weekend (28 markets); $65.6M intl cume ($139M global)
A Dog’s Journey (UNI): $1M intl weekend (4 markets); $49.2M intl cume including non-UNI markets ($71.8M global)
*The Goldfinch (WB): $985K intl weekend (13 markets); $3.625M global
Crawl (PAR): $555K intl weekend (26 markets); $37.3M intl cume ($83.5M global)
*Denotes new