‘Lightyear’ Lacks Luster With $86M WW Bow; ‘Jurassic World 3’ Crosses $600M & ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Nears $900M – International Box Office

UPDATE, writethru: Disney/Pixar’s Lightyear was no match for dinosaurs or Tom Cruise at the international box office this weekend. The Toy Story spinoff came in below projections with a $34.6M offshore bow in 43 material markets. That landed it third among Hollywood movies for the overseas session, behind holdovers Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick. On a global basis, it debuted to $85.6M.

The positive news internationally is that across Latin America, Lightyear opened at No. 1 in all markets, making it the highest launch weekend for any animated release during the pandemic era. It notably posted the biggest debut for any animated release during Covid in Mexico, among others.

Still, there are a number of factors that contribute to the space ranger’s underperformance, many of which Anthony has described domestically, and which also apply offshore.

In both areas, awareness was high, but spinoffs don’t always tend to catch the same lightning as their motherships; critical scores are okay, but not on par with the franchise. Social sentiment in some international markets is also off. While there has been crazy hot weather across parts of Europe — and, really, weather is a legit issue when it comes to box office — we can’t put the fact that Lightyear didn’t knock everyone’s Sox off down to that.

Is it a question of the marketplace sustaining multiple big-ticket titles? Dominion, and particularly Maverick, saw strong holds this session — so is the family audience distracted, or not fully back yet for those with younger kids? Lightyear could still see some leg-out as more vacations kick in, but it has only another weekend before Universal/Illumination’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru comes along. (See below for more detail as breakdowns are updated.)

The international weekend leader was Universal/Amblin Entertainment’s Jurassic World Dominion which thrashed past $500M on Friday, and through today hit another milestone as it topped $600M for $622.2M worldwide. Overseas, the dinos added $76.1M in 72 markets this session, a 54% drop, for an international cume of $372.4M. The running total in key markets (excluding China) is 35% below Jurassic World and 18% behind Fallen Kingdom at the same point.

JWD is seeing China make a comeback after the recent lockdowns. The movie ranked No. 1 again in the sophomore frame, chomping on another $24M to lift the local cume to $92.8M. Its Saturday was 110% up on the Friday as it dominated nearly 65% of the market share. The film was already the biggest imported release of 2022, and has now surpassed Free Guy to become the 3rd biggest Hollywood pic of the pandemic.

Still soaring, Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick zoomed past $800M worldwide after just 21 days in release on Thursday — becoming Tom Cruise’s biggest movie ever globally. Through today, it’s now estimated at $885.2M.

Overseas, the Joseph Kosinski-directed sequel added $39.7M in 64 markets this frame. This is a slight 25% drop from last weekend. The offshore cume is $419M. Cruise is in Korea today where the movie releases on Thursday. Yeah, $1B is definitely in the flight path.

Breakdowns have been updated below.

NEW
LIGHTYEAR

Let’s look at some bright spots: Lightyear is the highest animated opening during the pandemic era in Mexico, Argentina, Central America, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and the Philippines, as well as the Latin American region as a whole. It was No. 1 in all bows there.

It also posted the second highest opening weekend for any animated release in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Paraguay. Outside of Latin America, Lightyear debuted at No. 1 in Italy and Iceland as well as No. 2 in Spain, Hong Kong, Philippines and Thailand.

In several overseas markets, Lightyear saw Saturday grosses increase significantly versus Friday, demonstrating that families did come out over the weekend.

Overall, the launch was 63% ahead of Encanto, 4% ahead of Sing 2 and 12% below Sonic The Hedgehog 2 for the same suite of markets at current exchange rates.

The Top 5 markets are Mexico ($8.1M), UK ($4M), Argentina ($2.6M), Brazil ($2.5M) and Australia ($2.1M). Next weekend, France opens, followed by Japan on July 1.

HOLDOVERS
JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION

The UK, which had crazy hot weather this weekend — as was the case in a large swath of Europe — held No. 1 for a running cume of $26.2M which is just below Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom at the same point.

Australia saw a No. 2 hold behind Top Gun: Maverick with a $15.4M cume to date. This is ahead of JWFK at the same point of run.

France, which has dozens of regions on heatwave high-alert, held No. 1 for a $14.6M cume, almost in line with JWFK on a running basis. Germany also felt the hot weather and landed No. 1 to cume $12.6M so far, in line with JWFK.

Mexico, which is in its third frame, reached a cume of $36.1M, performing above the previous two films to date. In Spain, JWD continues to dominate as the No.1 title in the market, and reaching $10. Brazil saw strong uptick on Thursday (+167%) and Friday (+8%) at the start of a four-day holiday in the market. The total there is $11.9M, almost in line with the previous two films in the rebooted series.

The other double-digit market is Korea where there is strong competition from local titles. JWD has grossed $22.8M there through its third session.

Blue and the crew still have Japan to come on July 29.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

The UK has now grossed $71.5M, down just 26% from last weekend while Japan dropped only 15% to total $42.8M to date. Across 376 sites for the latter, TGM was No. 1. Also holding No. 1 — for the fourth weekend in a row — is Australia with a total of $40.1M (-24%).

France has the next best cume with $34.5M (-36%). Anecdotally, a spokesperson for France’s Air and Space Army told local news this week that its recruitment site has seen about twice the number of connections since Maverick was released. In the armed forces recruitment centers, the number of requests for information has increased as much as 400% and there’s been a spike in reservations at flying clubs with some now booked out until the end of the year.

Elsewhere, Germany dipped by 27% to cume $20.9M while Brazil saw only an 8% drop for $16.3M to date, and Saudi Arabia fell by just 7% for $11.2M so far.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (DIS): $2.5M intl weekend (51 markets); $537.4M intl cume/$942.5M global
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (PAR): $965K intl weekend (54 markets); $209.3M intl cume/$399.8M global
The Lost City (PAR): $400K intl weekend (33 markets); $83.3M intl cume/$188.6M global