Akin to domestic, it was a rather sleepy weekend at the international box office. Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever again won the frame, with $20.2M from 50 overseas markets for an offshore total of $339.3M and a global tally of $733M through Sunday.
The offshore drop on Wakanda Forever was 39% as it heads to a finish in the $800Ms worldwide. The film still reigns as the No. 1 non-local movie in several markets including France, Germany, the UK, Australia, Korea, Brazil and Mexico and remains the No. 7 biggest global movie of the year. Internationally, it will soon pass Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming at today’s rates and excluding China and Russia.
The Top 5 markets to date are the UK ($35.1M), Mexico ($32.4M), France ($27.9M), Brazil ($18.1M) and Australia ($16.9M).
Universal/87 North’s horror action comedy Violent Night, which over-indexed domestically, was new in 72 offshore markets this session (94% of the overseas footprint). It bowed to $7.1M for a $20.4M global debut. The start was above 2021’s Nobody with word of mouth propelling growth.
The UK led play at $1M from 581 locations, followed by Mexico at $593K from 910 and France with $585K from 313. Germany launched to $461K from 410 and Australia to $443K at 259. Note that all play was affected by the ongoing World Cup.
In holdover news, Disney’s Strange World added $5.4M in 43 markets during the sophomore frame. This was a 40% drop from the weak opening last session. The overseas total is now $16.8M for $42.3M worldwide. The Top 5 to date are the UK ($1.7M), Mexico ($1.4M), Spain ($1.2M), Germany ($1.1M) and Italy ($1.1M).
Searchlight’s The Menu gobbled up another $5M in 50 markets, adding Spain, Brazil, Hong Kong and Taiwan notably this weekend. The overseas cume is $22.5M with $47.2M global. The holdover drop was just 30%. The UK leads play with $3.1M, followed by Germany ($1.8M), Italy ($1.7M), Australia ($1.5M) and France ($1.4M).
Nearing $10M in just the UK, TriStar Pictures’ Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical continued its strong run at No. 1 for the second weekend in a row. The drop was 34%, to $3.3M and the total is so far $9.7M with strong word of mouth. Netflix has the film in the U.S. and other markets beginning December 25.
In other offshore play, Japan’s One Piece Film Red debuted in China with a 9.3 score on Maoyan and 75M RMB ($10.7M) to lead the weekend as the market sees restrictions ease somewhat. Korea thriller The Night Owl held No. 1 in the home market, now with a cume of $13.3M after two frames.
There’s of course a behemoth in the offing with Disney/20th Century Studios’ Avatar: The Way of Water ahead on December 14 overseas and December 16 domestically; business will remain quiet until then with no new major wide releases.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Black Adam (WB): $2.7M intl weekend (74 markets); $219M intl cume/$384M global
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (SNY): $2M intl weekend (50 markets); $39.3M intl cume/$85M global
Bones and All (WB): $1.5M intl weekend (47 markets); $4.5M intl cume/$10.5M global
A Todo Tren 2 (WB): $1M intl weekend (Spain only)
She Said (UNI): $701K intl weekend (53 markets); $3.53M intl cume/$8.82M global