Columbia/Marvel
Refresh for latest…: Sonys Venom continues to lead the international box office, scoring a hat trick at No. 1 with $32.3M this weekend for an offshore cume of $290.7M and a global total to date of $461.2M. In second, Warner Bros A Star Is Born rocked out to $22.8M to push the offshore total to $74.7M and the worldwide tally past the $200M mark. Behind those overseas is Universal/Miramax/Blumhouses Halloween. The pics offshore rollout is staggered with Jamie Lee Curtis badass Laurie Strode striding into 23 markets this session, including only three majors. The reboot-sequel slashed away at $14.3M in its debut. Coupled with the movies scary good domestic opening, that lifts the worldwide bow to $91.8M.
The overseas Halloween numbers are in line with where Universal had the pic as we headed into the weekend, though they are slightly lower than the estimates we saw yesterday. Industry sources were clearly over-bullish on the start, expecting IT and The Nun scores — and U.S.-style anticipation — while not perhaps accounting for the tougher trek slasher movies experience in offshore waters.
Nevertheless, the only majors to go this session were Mexico, the UK and Russia as the majority of the remaining 46 markets go next weekend and should see curiosity piqued by the outsize domestic performance. Mexico had a great start to lead the David Gordon Green-helmed pics overseas play with $5M at No. 1. This gives Blumhouse its best debut ever and the 5th all-time highest for a horror film. The UK came in with $3.6M for Blumhouses 4th best opening weekend and the biggest of the last five years.
In the UK, Halloween was in a knife fight with Star Is Born which dipped just 4% locally to take No. 1. The Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga-starrer further debuted in Australia with the top WB opening of 2018 at $4.7M.
In like-for-likes, Halloweens total $14.3M opening weekend is comping well to a host of horror. Its above Split (+8%), Insidious: The Last Key (+23%), A Quiet Place (+43%), The Conjuring (+46%), Insidious 2 & 3 (+55%), Lights Out (+72%), Rings (+83%), Jigsaw (127%), Dont Breathe (147%), Happy Death Day (+151%) and below Annabelle (-14%).
Elsewhere, Universals First Man had a decent second weekend, opening No. 1 in Korea to top comps including Arrival, Sully, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Everest and Captain Phillips. The studios Johnny English Strikes Again, which is out in 57 offshore markets before getting to North America next session, is within striking distance of $100M.
NEW
HALLOWEEN
Universal, Miramax and Blumhouse have a domestic opening to crow about this frame with the reboot-sequel of the classic horror franchise, and despite some overly-bullish pre-weekend projections from outside sources, the international debut is in line with where the studio always saw this one coming in offshore. At $14.3M, the David Gordon Green-helmed pic that brings Jamie Lee Curtis back to her iconic Laurie Strode character is tracking above such comps as Split (+11%), A Quiet Place (+43%), The Conjuring (+46%) and Jigsaw (+127%).
The majority of markets come online next weekend, moving closer to the actual Halloween holiday. There are no major wide releases on deck overseas until the very tail end of the month and heading into November.
Out in 23 markets this session, Halloween ranked No. 3 overall internationally and had a top bow in Mexico with $5M at 845 locations to score No.1 and Blumhouses best launch ever, as well as the 5th best for a horror film period. As weve noted, Latin America leans into horror, but slasher pics have a tougher time. That makes comps to recent smashes like The Nun and IT a bit tougher. The Mexico weekend is above The Conjuring, Lights Out, Poltergeist, Dont Breathe, Happy Death Day and Jigsaw.
The UK saw Halloween face off with a strong hold for A Star Is Born, coming in No. 2 with $3.6M at 530. Its tracking in line with The Conjuring 2 and above Split, The Conjuring, Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle, Jigsaw, Lights Out, Dont Breathe and Happy Death Day.
As with the UK, Russia gave Blumhouse its 4th best opening ever, slashing up $1.8M at 1145 sites. This is above Lights Out, The Conjuring, Happy Death Day and Annabelle.
Other markets of note include Indonesia where Michael Meyers was the top draw with $1.1M from 220 locations, and Finland at No. 1 with $271K at 79 to top all comps.
The overseas finals (non-adjusted) on some of the comps goes like this: Split ($140.2M), The Conjuring ($182.1M), Dont Breathe ($68M) Happy Death Day ($67M), Jigsaw ($65M) and Poltergeist ($48M).
Next weekends notable adds for tricks and/or treats include France, Australia, Brazil, Italy, Germany and Spain.
HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
VENOM
For the 3rd weekend in a row, Sonys Venom kept its fangs into the No. 1 spot internationally, this session adding $32.3M in 65 markets. That lifts the offshore cume to $290.7M and the global total to $461.2M. This is before key releases in Japan on November 2 and China on November 9. Outside China, Venom is looking at a finish in the $350M range for overseas.
The Tom Hardy-starrer this session maintained the No. 1 slot in 30 markets and saw very good regional holds. Western Europe was down 47%, Middle East/Africa off 52%, and Latin America -53%. Notable country drops include: Denmark (-22%), Germany (-29%), Netherlands (-31%), Peru (-34%), Israel (-42%), Argentina (-45%), the UK (-47%), Australia (-53%) and the Philippines (-53%).
The Top 5 hubs to date are Korea ($28.4M), Russia ($28.1M), the UK ($21.8M), Mexico ($21.3M) and Brazil ($15.3M).
A STAR IS BORN
Warner Bros A Star Is Born is holding tight overseas with a slight 20% drop from its sophomore frame last week. The current session was worth $22.8M in 75 markets and on about 8,620 screens. The international cume is now $74.7M with global surpassing $200M at $201.1M to date.
Australia chimed into the musical romance with $4.7M including sneaks and on 536 screens to score the biggest opening weekend of 2018 for WB. A clear No. 1, it topped comps Oceans 8 (+9%), Silver Linings Playbook (+108%) and La La Land (+232%). Hong Kong was also a fresh market with $629K on 58 screens.
Major holds were led by the UK with $3.9M on 846 screens, dropping a scant 4% and ranking No.1. The cume there is now $19.5M. Italy dipped 25% and held No. 1 with a cume of $4.3M; France on weekend three slid just 22% and has cumed $6.6M; Germany also in its 3rd frame fell just 2% and has tallied $5.4M so far; Taiwan zoomed upwards by 28% from opening and has cumed $2.5M.
The last key market to open is Japan on December 21.
FIRST MAN
Adding 25 markets this session, Universals critically lauded First Man boosted its offshore cume by $13.4M to take the international tally to $25.5M and global to $55.5M.
Korea was a solid start for the Damien Chazelle-helmed Neil Armstrong biopic with $3.5M at No. 1 and tracking above Arrival, Sully, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Everest and Captain Phillips. That was at 444 locations.
France opened to No. 3 with $1.8M, above Captain Phillips and in line with Arrival and The Imitation Game. Brazil got off to a No. 3 launch with $683K at 372 and the UAE opened to No. 3 with $455K at 50 hubs.
Next session sees the Ryan Gosling-starrer in a handful of smaller markets while Italy goes October 31, followed by Germany and Mexico the first week of November.
SMALLFOOT
Warner Bros animated yeti movie opened in China this weekend where it didnt have a giant footprint thanks to a lot of local competition, but did rank No. 2 on Sunday there despite being No. 5 for the overall frame. In the Middle Kingdom, the take was $3.9M on 4,900 screens. For comps sake, thats 38% above The Peanuts Movie which ended its run at $5.7M.
The full weekend was good for $14M on approximately 12,425 screens in 71 markets. That brings the overseas cume to $70.8M thus far.
France was a new hub with $1.85M on 544 screens, ranking No. 4 and coming in 19% over Mr Peabody And Sherman, 42% ahead of The Lorax and Storks, 95% bigger than The Emoji Movie and more than triple Captain Underpants.
Holds were good in the UK (-37%/$5.7M cume), Spain (-34%/$2.8M cume) and Germany (-2%/$1.6M cume). Australia leads the Top 5 with $8.9M followed by Mexico ($8.4M), the UK ($5.7M), Brazil ($4.7M) and China ($3.9M). Russia is on deck October 25.
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