‘Fifty Shades’ Still Sexy At Overseas Box Office; Chinese New Year Festive For ‘Kingsman’ – In’tl B.O.Update

5TH UPDATE, TUESDAY 3:56 AM PT: More actuals are now in with figures updated below on Big Hero 6, American Sniper, Jupiter Ascending, Traumfrauen, Boyhood and Shaun The Sheep (the latter in the market snapshots).

4TH UPDATE, MONDAY 11:40 AM PT: Updates to Universal’s Fifty Shades Of Grey, Unbroken and Seventh Son have been made below. Also for Fox International’s Best Picture Oscar winner Birdman, as well as Book of Life, Exodus: Gods And Kings, The Fault In Our Stars, Penguins Of Madagascar, Taken 3 and Kingsman: The Secret Service.

3RD UPDATE, MONDAY 4:52 AM PT: Universal and Focus Features’ Fifty Shades Of Grey maintained its dominant position at the international box office this weekend with $63.2M across 58 territories for an overseas cume that’s expected to hit $300M by Friday. Current cume stands at $275.97M. Combined with domestic, Fifty Shades stands at $405.1M worldwide. Among studio titles this frame, it was followed by Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service with $33.4M in 59 markets and a new R-rated record in Korea. While the latter film benefited from the Chinese New Year celebrations in Asian markets — save China where it doesn’t bow until March 27 – it tied with the top title released this frame in the Middle Kingdom, Dragon Blade. That Jackie Chan period actioner, which also stars Adrien Brody and John Cusack, also picked up $33M. Just behind it was Chow Yun-fat gambling/action comedy From Vegas To Macau II which rolled to $29M in four Asian plays. In total, the seven Chinese New Year/Spring Festival titles in Rentrak’s Top 20 grossed roughtly $120M in their market debuts. (More detail after the initial posts below.)

Overall, this overseas weekend was down compared to last frame when Fifty Shades racked up $156M over the three-day. But it was up compared to last year’s similar frame which saw the entry of The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug into the Middle Kingdom and a big Robocop bow in Brazil.

Later this week, Fifty Shades will be faced with Warner Bros’ Will Smith con man comedy Focus both domestically and internationally. It rolls out in more than 30 offshore markets, including the UK and Russia, beginning Wednesday. The UK will also check into Fox Searchlight’s Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with the returning cast joined by Richard Gere this time. Speaking of Fox Searchlight, the division’s Best Picture Oscar winner, Birdman, flies to France on Wednesday in one of its remaining international bows. Also next week, Sound Editing Oscar winner American Sniper targets Germany, and Animated Feature laureate Big Hero 6 muscles into China.

Actuals will be updated as they arrive. See below the original posts for some key market info.

2ND UPDATE, 12:55 PM PT: Numbers from Warner Bros have now arrived and as Hollywood preps for tonight’s Oscars, the studio’s Best Picture nominee, American Sniper, has crossed the $100M overseas milestone. A full rundown has been added to the original post below. More to come…

1ST UPDATE, 11:43 AM PT: International moviegoers shelled out $63.2M this weekend to see big spender Christian Grey woo lip-biter Anastasia Steele, bringing Fifty Shades‘ offshore cume to $275.97M after two weekends. That helped the Universal and Focus Features title blow past $400M worldwide to $405.1M — with a lot of heat coming from the UK, Germany, France and Brazil. But Fifty Shades wasn’t the only game in town around the globe as Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service exerted particularly tactical force in Asia. The Colin Firth-starrer has become the top R-rated import into Korea ever — bigger than all James Bond and Jason Bourne movies — capitalizing on the Chinese New Year period which kicked off on Thursday and impacts box office in the regionwith $17.8M. Elsewhere, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water soaked up a fair bit of the kids and family business, and special mention goes to Oscar hopeful The Theory Of Everything, which crossed $100M worldwide today.

While we wait on numbers from Warner Bros, figures for Fifty Shades, Kingsman, SpongeBob, Theory and more from the other studios are below the original post. More to come…

PREVIOUS, 8:42 AM PT:Fifty Shades Of Grey continued to dominate the international box office this weekend, holding the No. 1 spot with an estimated additional $63.2M from 58 territories, according to Universal. After their 2nd session, Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey have tied up a $405.1M worldwide gross, $275.97M of that from overseas. While the racy love story had a weaker hold on No. 1 in North America — down 73% week-on-week – the offshore dip was just 56%. Fifty Shades has overtaken the lifetime international box office of Sex And The City ($263M) and tomorrow will pass the first Hunger Games‘ overseas total of $283M.

Playing at 10,323 dates in 58 markets, the film is No. 1 across more than 50. The only new opening this frame was Trinidad where Fifty Shades picked up a record-breaking $296K at 16 dates. That’s the biggest February opening, the top R-rated opening and Universal’s 2nd best opening of all time there.

The erotic book-to-screen transfer from director Sam Taylor-Johnson continued to bond with moviegoers in major markets. The UK cume is now $38.8M followed by Germany ($26.3M), France ($20.3M), Brazil ($18.8M); Italy ($18.3M); Russia ($15.5M);Spain ($15.3M); Australia ($13.4M); Mexico ($12.8M); Poland ($7.4M) and Argentina ($6.3M).

There are four more territories to open: Korea on February 26, various Middle East markets on March 5, Egypt on March 11 and India, where the date is to be fixed.

Fox’s Matthew Vaughn-helmed Kingsman: The Secret Service is now playing in 54 international markets and spied a further $33.4M from 5,940 screens to take the international cume to $86.8M this frame. Aside from overtaking Fifty Shades Of Grey to become the No. 1 film in Russia in its 2nd outing ($6.6M cume), the well-reviewed movie is greatly benefitting from a savvy move to release in Asia during Chinese New Year. The Spring Festival kicked off in the Middle Kingdom on Thursday and although Kinsgman doesn’t hit that market until March 27, there is a knock-on effect in other Asian territories. Korea added $8.9M to bring the cume there to $17.8M. That’s a staggering increase of 86% and puts Kingsman above all Bond and Bourne films as the top imported R-rated movie ever. In Taiwan, Kingsman grossed $3.4M on 125 screens for the biggest Chinese New Year opener of the past five years and at 240% above Sherlock Holmes and 182% above X-Men: First Class. In Malaysia, Colin Firth and crew debuted to $2.25M on 300 screens, the 3rd biggest Fox opener ever there.

Elsewhere, France opened to $3.3M from 497. The UK remains the top offshore play with $20.4M after four weeks. Still to go are such key markets as Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Italy and Spain.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water expanded in 15 further markets this frame taking the total to 44 where it splashed down with $21.9M from 6,562 locations. The Paramount Animation title now has an international cume of $76M, pushing it to $201M worldwide including the U.S.’ $125M. The Bikini Bottom-dweller’s voyage into the real world was good for a No. 2 opening in Germany, behind holdover Fifty Shades and its very different demographic. Playing at 503 sites, SpongeBob soaked up $5.3M for a debut that was 45% bigger than Big Hero 6 and 52% over Penguins Of Madagascar, per Par. France opened at No. 4 with $3M from 634. In holdovers, the Paul Tibbit-helmed adventure has a $6.4M cume in Russia after two frames. Brazil has also held well at No. 2 with $13M after three sessions, down just 13% from last week. SpongeBob travels to Italy on February 26, the UK on March 27 and Australia on April 2.

Breaking records in so many of its international bows over the past several weeks, Clint Eastwood’s Best Picture nominee American Sniper put $21.8M in the chamber this frame, bringing the offshore total to $108.5M across 54 markets. The drama bowed to No. 1s in France ($6.3M) and Japan ($2.8M). The French perf ranks as the biggest opening ever for an Eastwood film. In Japan, the film had a 48% market share across the Top 5 titles. This is the 2nd biggest bow for an Eastwood movie behind the Japanese-language Letters From Iwo Jima. Spain debuted with $3.2M from 397K admissions on 380 screens, another market best opening for Eastwood. Same goes for Mexico with $2.6M from 654K admissions on 1,457 screens. Warner is projecting a No. 1 finish here. In its Brazil bow, Sniper targeted $1.8M from 173 screens including sneaks. Not only does the take shatter all previous Eastwood records, it also bests the lifetime cumes for all the director’s films save Million Dollar Baby and Hereafter. The top market cumes ahead of Germany’s opening on February 26 are Italy ($23M), the UK ($19.7M) and Australia ($14.15M).

Big Hero 6 added $11.7M in the overseas frame, taking the international total to $326.5M and the global box office to $546.93M. While parents were tying one on with Fifty Shades Of Grey, UK kids were on holiday and embracing Big Hero 6. The Disney pic saw a 36% increase there this frame. After 24 days in release, the British cume is $24.8M. France dropped just 19% from its start last weekend, with a cume of $6.9M. In Japan, Big Hero 6 has almost completed its fantastic run, dropping just 29% to register a cume to date of $72.1M. Korea, where Big Hero 6 is the 2nd biggest Disney/Pixar animated release ever, saw a drop of only 9% and now has a total to date of $19.5M. The film has released in all international markets aside from China which bows on February 28 giving it a key slot as the first Hollywood movie in the Middle Kingdom after a flood of local New Year’s pics.

Jupiter Ascending had an $8.6M overseas weekend with nearly 1.3M admissions from 5,860 screens in 67 markets. The international cume on the Warner release is now $74.6M. Australia and New Zealand both opened well with $1.56M and $300K respectively. Brazil led holdovers with $824K for a $5.3M cume, followed by France ($717K/$5.9M) and Germany ($656K/$4.5M). China and Japan could push this one over the $100M mark internationally when they open on March 6 and 28.

Fox and DreamWorks Animation’s Penguins Of Madagascar is still zooming around the globe, adding $5M this frame in 36 markets for a cume of $277.1M. Also getting a bump from the Chinese New Year holiday, the gang debuted as the No. 1 MPA title in Hong Kong with $1.4M on 82 — 240% bigger than Frozen and 138% higher than How To Train Your Dragon 2. In Thailand, the super troupe bowed at No. 1 with 20% of the market and $476K on 200. Holds were all strong in Venezuela ($6.2M cume), Poland ($7.4M cume), Taiwan ($1.1M cume) and Argentina ($4.7M cume).

Despite no new openings, Taken 3 apprehended $4.28M at 2,687 dates in 54 markets to push the international cume a notch below $200M at $199.2M. Italy led holdovers with a 14% jump over last frame for a $1.6M cume. Drops were minimal across Latin America with Mexico tops at $369K for a $9.8M total after four frames.

Holding well during European school holidays, Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb excavated $4.4M from 1,730 screens in 30 markets. The $229.4M cume was aided by France’s 3rd frame of $1.6M from 630 screens for a $7.9M total to date. In Holland and Belgium, history buffs were out in force, lifting the weekend 17% and 53% respectively.

While its Honig Im Kopf recently became the studio’s top grossing local film ever in Germany, Warner Bros’ Traumfrauen debuted at No. 3 this frame – behind Fifty Shades and SpongeBob. The comedy from director Anika Decker tells the parallel love stories of three young women in Berlin. It grossed $3.9M from 597 screens this weekend.

Going into tonight’s Oscars, Universal and Working Title’s The Theory Of Everything crossed the $100M mark globally with the worldwide estimate now at $104M. The Stephen Hawking biopic added $2.7M in 46 territories for an offshore total of $70M. Openings in Bolivia, Ecuador, Iceland, Romania and Ukraine had good results with the UK hold continuing to impress. There, the Eddie Redmayne/Felicity Jones-starrer crossed the $30M threshold with $686K in its 7th frame. The 52-day total is now $30.1M there with 10 territories still to go including Denmark, Russia and the Philippines next weekend.

Sony’s The Wedding Ringer rang in $1.6M in the UK, including previews, for a No. 5 bow this frame. The UAE was a No. 2 start with $400K on 33 screens. In total, the Kevin Hart comedy grossed an estimated $2.5M on 870 screens in 38 territories, taking the overseas cume to $8.1M.

Spreading its wings ahead of this evening’s big kudocast, Birdman added $2.3M in 46 markets to take the total to $38.68M for the Fox Searchlight Oscar contender. Australia (+27%) and Spain (+1%) were marked by increases, for respective cumes of $4.27M and $4.16M. Germany was down just 5% for a total of $2.58M.

Annie knocked out Peru this frame, taking the No. 1 spot with $360K on 90 screens. Also in Latin America, Argentina was worth $250K on 85 and Chile spent $125K on 42. Holds were strong in Japan (-36%/$10.1M cume) and Spain (-27%/cume $2.9M). In total, the little orphan added $1.8M on 1,840 screens in 31 territories for an overseas cume of $43.8M ($38.2M for Sony Pictures Releasing International/$5.6M for Village Roadshow). France releases this week.

Paramount’s Project Almanac made $1.3M from 508 locations in 10 markets for a total of $5.4M to date. The time machine tale traveled to the UK this frame for a $1.3M bow (including paid previews) from 385 cinemas.

Legendary’s Seventh Son, which Universal is releasing internationally, conjured another $1M in 20 territories for a Universal total of $59.69M. Italy opened at No. 3 with $942K at 264 dates. A further 13 markets are yet to bow. Factoring in China, the offshore cume is $85.2M.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is in its 3rd weekend in Japan where it dropped 50% for $714K at 331 locations. This is the film’s last market which now has a cume of $7.4M. The total international take has reached $292.6M.

Unbroken now has a cume of $45.6M after amassing a further $470K in 36 territories this session. There are four more to go for the Angelina Jolie Universal release including Bulgaria, Colombia, Serbia/Montenegro and Hong Kong through the rest of February and March.

Boyhood’s weekend gross was $280K at 456 dates in 21 territories, a jump of 13% over last frame. The Universal total is now $23.7M. Chile and Vietnam have yet to release.

MARKET SNAPSHOTS:

ASIA
Chinese New Year films contributed $119.5M to coffers in the region over the three-day frame. Jackie Chan-starrer Dragon Blade, as expected, was the top title taking in $33M for the weekend and $50M for the Thursday-Sunday frame per Rentrak. That’s on par with last year’s The Monkey King which earned $50.8M as the Spring Festival holiday kicked off in China. With a $29M start, From Vegas To Macau II, starring Chow Yun-fat, outperformed last year’s The Man From Macau which had opened to $11.6M. The full Thursday-Sunday on Macau II is estimated at $39M, according to Rentrak. Among the other openers in China were Zhong Kui: Snow Girl And The Dark Crystal, which has a cume of $26.5M; Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Wolf Totem with a $27M cume; Dad, Where Are We Going? 2 with an $18.5M cume; Triumph In The Skies at $14M; and Emperor’s Holidays at $7.8M. Check out trailers from each of the films here.

Elsewhere in Asia, Kingsman: The Secret Service smartly capitalized on the Chinese New Year holiday frame, scoring a fantastic 2nd session in Korea where its box office jumped by 86%. It’s now the top imported R-rated film ever, bigger than all Bond and Bourne titles. The top local movie was Detective K: Secret Of The Lost Island which originally bowed on February 11 and has now amassed $23M. Also continuing strongly was Ode To My Father which went out initially back in December and has now passed Avatar in terms of admissions to become the 2nd most-attended film of all time in Korea, per FilmBizAsia. Its dollar cume is estimated at $96M.

Fifty Shades Of Grey still has yet to release in Korea and expectations are not through the roof since the book has not had great penetration there. Same goes for Japan where the film has already been released. But even without those markets, it looks poised to hit $350M overseas before the run is out. And that’s even more remarkable when considering it will not be released in China where, had it been presented to the censors, it’s a safe bet only about 20 minutes would have passed.

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper struck the No. 1 slot in Japan where Eastwood is very popular. At $2.8M, this is his 2nd best start ever behind Letters From Iwo Jima, which was in Japanese. In 2013, a local remake of Unforgiven made about $6.8M. Also in Japan are new figures on Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods And Kings which has a $5.98M cume after four frames raising its overseas total to $203.3M. And, The Fault In Our Stars finally opened there in a medium-scale release that was worth $449K on 211 screens. Overseas for the Shailene Woodley film is now $181M.

LATIN AMERICA
Latin America has been very good to Fifty Shades Of Grey, something that might surprise given the region’s penchant for family films. But, the book was very popular there and the audience has sparked to the boundary-pushing film. There is a large 18-30 year-old demographic that’s expected to push Fifty Shades to around $75M in the region.

EUROPE
Warner Bros’ local-language business continues to flourish in Germany. Til Schweiger’s Honig Im Kopf recently became the studio’s most successful local movie ever with over $51.5M and counting after eight weeks. It had been No. 1 for six of those. The latest title to go out under Warner Germany is co-production Traumfrauen which ranked No. 3 in its debut at $3.9M on 375K admissions from 597 screens. Directed by Anika Decker, the comedy about three lovelorn women in Berlin is a Hellinger/Doll, Warner Bros Ent and Decker Bros co-production.

Meanwhile, in Spain, the Fox’s Latin-themed Book Of Life, directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro, finally bowed. The colorful animated adventure started off with $409K on 429 screens for a No. 4 bow. The international cume to date is $46.5M.

Studiocanal and Aardman’s Shaun The Sheep was boosted by a week of school holidays in the UK where it has now earned $15.4M. The animated adaptation of the BBC kids series has no new family competition until SpongeBob splashes down on March 20. Elsewhere in Europe, Italy saw a 2% increase in its 2nd frame for a $1.88M cume; Scandinavia has a cume of $2M for the region. In the first wave of Asian markets, Hong Kong posted $193K from 25 screens, 118% bigger than Pirates! Band Of Misfits. Singapore was worth $190K at 18, 43% above Arthur Christmas. The international total is estimated at $21.3M. There are still 40 markets to go.