‘West Side Story’ Goes South In Offshore Debut, But Is There A Place For It Over Time?; ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Nears $500M Global – International Box Office

UPDATE, writethru: With stellar critical and audience scores, there is certainly a place for Disney/20th Century Studios/Amblin’s West Side Story — and the hope is that it will grow through the coming weeks. In its debut session at the international box office, however, the Steven Spielberg-directed version of the classic musical landed well below expectations. In 37 material markets, which include six majors, WSS grossed $4.4M — far under the low end of the projected range coming into the session. The global total through Sunday is $15M. In IMAX, WSS delivered $1.3M globally.

So what happened? Anthony has the domestic rundown here — and offshore is a somewhat similar situation. There are increased Covid fears in Europe and older audiences are not rushing out to see a film they know they can catch during the down time after holiday preparations are through. In terms of individual markets, the UK leads at $1.7M (No. 2 opening), followed by France with $1.1M (the soft market is led by a local fourquel which saw a bigger drop from Wednesday-Thursday than WSS). After that, we cast downwards to Germany’s $300K start and Russia and Netherlands’ $200K debuts. Russia and Germany were expected to be soft, and Netherlands has a 5PM curfew in place.

Still, given the competitive landscape ahead — which includes the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections — there was not much else room to land in terms of a release date in the major European markets; and it was important to secure and be able to hold screens for a certain period. The hope is that, as with other Spielberg movies, there is a leg-out from this launch. There have been a lot of queries as to for whom this movie was intended. Maybe the timing is not opportune for the available audience, but this is not obscure property; ie, it’s well-known globally. For Disney, this is a movie that has awards momentum and which should have holiday play to bolster it. There are many markets to come throughout the festive period.

In other studio news, Disney’s Encanto dropped by 37% in its third weekend and has become the highest grossing animated title of the pandemic era across Latin America. The weekend was good for $13.6M from 47 markets for an offshore cume of $80.5M and a global total of $151.2M. France is the top market at $9M, followed by Colombia ($7.9M), UK ($5.6M), Spain ($5.5M) and Russia ($4.8M).

MGM/Universal’s House Of Gucci added $10.1M from 63 combined markets. That lifts the offshore cume to $52M and global to $93M. Russia is loving the Lady Gaga-starrer with a 19% drop and a $6.3M cume; Germany dipped just 5% from open to top A Star Is Born at the same point with $4.1M. In lead market, the UK, House Of Gucci has passed Ford V Ferrari at a running $9.8M. Several key markets are still on deck.

From Paramount, Clifford The Big Red Dog woofed down $7.4M in 40 offshore markets, including $1.7M from 567 UK locations where eOne releases. In 81% of the international paw print, Clifford has grossed $14.3M with a slight 28% drop from last session. All openings were No. 2 including Russia ($1.5M) and Mexico ($804K). France leads with $1.9M after a 25% dip and Germany increased this frame by 8% to reach $712K. Still on deck are Korea, Australia and Japan. In London’s Leicester Square, a special bronze sculpture installation was unveiled last week in support of animal welfare charity, Battersea, raising awareness of how unique and special rescue animals are, and how every animal deserves a chance to find a loving home.

Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife added $6.4M in 53 markets for a $52.7M overseas cume and $164.7M worldwide. France added $1M in its second frame, off 46% for a market cume of $3.2M. Russia has cumed $3.3M to date and the UK leads play with $13.5M. Upcoming in January and February are Australia and Japan.

Meanwhile, Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage is expected to pass a new milestone this week as the symbiote has now cumed $493.3M global. That’s following a $4.7M international weekend in 60 markets. After debuting last session, Japan was down 45% for a market cume of $9.3M and Australia is now at $9.4M. The overseas total is $281.3M to date.

Also notable, Disney/Marvel’s Eternals is nearing a $400M global cume, currently standing at $395.3M with continued strong play in Latin America and parts of Asia. Overall overseas markets dropped by 42%.

This coming week, it’s all about another Marvel pic, with Sony’s with Spider-Man: No Way Home. The Tom Holland-starrer has already broken presales records overseas and begins international rollout on Wednesday. Bringing the MCU into the Multiverse, the latest Jon Watts-directed Spidey features IMAX-exclusive expanded aspect ratio for the entire film and will play next weekend on 834 IMAX screens in 77 markets. Confoundingly, it still does not have a date in China where local movies continue to dominate. Last week’s leader, Schemes In Antiques led again this frame and has cumed $52M, while Be Somebody is now at $133M. The upcoming session includes Fireflies In The Sun and I Am What I Am.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Eternals (DIS): $3.6M intl weekend (47 markets); $234.1M intl cume/$395.3M global
Dune (WB): $3M intl weekend (59 markets); $283.7M/$390M global
No Time To Die (UNI): $2.8M intl weekend (72 UNI markets only); $610.5M intl cume/$771.1M global
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City (SNY/CON): $2.3M intl weekend (42 markets); $15M intl cume/$30.8M global
Sing 2 (UNI): $1.5M intl weekend (13 markets); $2.9M intl cume
King Richard (WB): $1.2M intl weekend (51 markets); $10.3M intl cume/$24.7M global
Last Night In Soho (UNI): $706K intl weekend (62 markets); $12.8M intl cume/$23M global