Julia Roberts and George Clooney landed at the top of the international box office chart this weekend as Universal/Working Title’s Ticket to Paradise expanded its offshore rollout. Adding 39 markets for a $12.1M session in 46 lifted the overseas cume to $14.8M with several majors still to come; domestic begins on October 21. Collectively, the new markets this session performed above Last Christmas and Yesterday, and in line with The Lost City and Bridget Jones’s Baby.
The reteam of Roberts and Clooney is the second starry romantic comedy to hit cinemas this year, after Paramount’s Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum adventure The Lost City which ultimately grossed about $191M globally. That film followed a more staggered release pattern overseas, largely debuting after domestic.
While we’re still seeing a dearth of new titles overseas, the current corridor is fertile ground for comedy in some markets, thus the pre-domestic release on the Ol Parker-directed Ticket. It’s early days for the film which has mostly positive reviews so far, markets to come and domestic ahead, though it will butt up against Warner Bros’ Don’t Worry Darling in some areas next weekend; a different genre, but also a female-leaning title.
Universal smartly activated Girls Night Out/Ladies Night preview campaigns in a number of hubs — they’re especially popular in Australia which was the lead market this session. The Oz bow on Ticket to Paradise was $2.5M including strong results from Girls Night Out on Wednesday. Saturday saw a 54% increase from Friday and a 44% share of the Top 10.
The UK was originally set to release this session, but was delayed until after Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral tomorrow.
Germany, which is generally the best Euro hub for comedy, had a good No. 1 start at $2M, above Lost City, Yesterday and Last Christmas. The Middle East region did $2.4M, including $1M at No. 1 in Saudi Arabia, above Lost City.
In holdovers, Spain added $600K for $1.9M to date and in line with Lost City. Brazil saw uplift in the sophomore session, reaching a cume of $1.4M.
Coming up, the UK releases Tuesday, followed by France, Italy, Mexico and Korea in October and Japan in November.
In the sophomore session, Dharma Productions and Star Studios’ Brahmastra Part One: Shiva — which Disney is releasing overseas in India and the UK — saw a sizable 66% drop from opening in the home market (though that’s better than some recent Marvel pics). The running total in India is $30.6M with another $1M from the UK. When including North America, the global cume is $38.4M. Factoring in other international markets where it’s in play, the worldwide total is an estimated $41M.
Warner Bros’ DC League of Super-Pets scurried to another $4.9M from 76 offshore markets, boosted by Australia’s $2.6M debut including previews ($1.2M without). The overseas cume is $89.7M for $177.6M worldwide. In Oz, the start is tracking above Encanto (+45%), Sing 2 (+74%) and Paw Patrol (+610%). School holidays have begun in 47% of the country and will expand to 94% next week. New Zealand, the final market to release, joins the pack on September 22.
Tops to date are the UK ($18.2M), France ($7.7M), Mexico ($7.5M), Spain ($4.2M) and Germany ($4.1M).
Universal/Illumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru picked up another $4.6M from 84 markets (-31%), for an international cume of $549.1M and a global total of $913.1M. In China, the total is now $34.6M to push Gru and the crew past the lifetimes of Toy Story 4 and Moana. Approximately 71% of cinemas are open as of last week, the lowest percentage since the end of May.
Holds were strong elsewhere with the UK now at $53.9M, followed by China, Germany ($33.2M), Japan ($32M) and France ($25.8M). Brazil notably saw a 51% increase in the frame, with a running total of $21.8M.
With a holdover drop of just 19% on its 17th weekend, Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick grossed another $4M in 61 overseas markets for an offshore cume of $754.2M. Global is now $1.463B. (Anecdotally, this was the movie I saw most people watching on my flight from Paris to LA this weekend…)
The Top Five markets are the UK ($102M), Japan ($93.6M – weekend was up 9% from last), Korea ($67.2M), Australia ($64.3M) and France ($58.2M).
In non-studio titles, Chinese time-travel comedy Give Me Five added about $7M in the second frame, taking its cume to RMB 251M ($36M). There’s nothing new on the China docket next weekend while the market preps for October 1’s National Day which will include Alibaba’s fighter pilot movie Born to Fly, and may also see the release of Tony Leung-starrer Nameless.
In Korea, Confidential Assignment 2: International took the lead again with a $6.9M sophomore frame and a running cume of $35.1M.
Next week, Warner Bros releases Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling in roughly 60 markets following its headline-making debut at the Venice Film Festival. Also on deck is Disney’s rerelease of Fox’s Avatar. It will play on IMAX screens for a limited two-week engagement.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Bullet Train (SNY): $3.8M intl weekend (64 markets); $125.7M intl cume/$222.1M global
Where the Crawdads Sing (SNY): $2.1M intl weekend (49 markets); $38.1M intl cume/$127M global
See How They Run (DIS): $1.9M intl weekend (9 markets); $4.5M intl cume/$7.6M global
The Invitation (SNY): $1.5M intl weekend (43 markets); $8.6M intl cume/$30.1M global
*Moonage Daydream (UNI): $1.4M intl weekend (28 markets); $1.4M intl cume/2.62M global
Spider-Man: No Way Home (SNY): $1.4M intl weekend (42 markets); $1.104B intl cume/$1.918B global
Nope (UNI): $1.37M intl weekend (79 markets); $46.3M intl cume/$169M global
*Hell Dogs (SNY): $1.2M intl weekend (Japan only)
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (SNY/CRU): $950K intl weekend (43 markets, excluding Japan); $68.8M global cume (excluding Japan)
Barbarian (DIS): $500K intl weekend (12 markets); $1M intl cume/$21.9M global
*Denotes new