Sony’s Bullet Train was the global and international box office leader for the studios during its sophomore frame with an added $17M from 61 overseas markets for an offshore cume of $60M and global riding the rails past $100M for $114.5M through Sunday.
The international holdover markets dropped 40%; word of mouth is good and there’s track ahead for the Brad Pitt-starrer as Korea, Italy and Japan are still to come. Korea’s Yonhap news agency this week dedicated a story to the fact that Pitt is due to visit the market for the first time in eight years, reportedly jetting in to promote the film later this week.
France was the lead market on BT this weekend with $1.7M (though locally Toei’s One Piece Film: Red caused a ruckus with what we hear was a No. 1 start at $3.34M). The French cume on BT is $5.8M. The UK is currently at $6M. Mexico has grossed $5.4M, followed by Australia’s $4.1M and Saudi Arabia and Spain at $3.6M each. The global IMAX cume is $6.3M.
Coming in second for the studios, Universal/Illumination’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru snatched another $10.8M from 80 markets to lift international to $446.7M and global to $790.4M. This helped Uni cross the $3B mark at the worldwide box office during the session, and China is still to come on Friday (the previous Despicable Me franchise movie did a bananas $158.2M there).
For Gru and the crew, Japan jumped up by 5% this frame, overtaking Sing 2 as the highest-grossing animated Hollywood movie of the pandemic with $24.8M so far. Top grosses to date are in the UK ($46M), Mexico ($38M), Australia ($28.7M), Germany ($27.8M) and Japan.
Ace flyer Top Gun: Maverick remains in the Top 5 globally this weekend, and at No. 3 internationally for the studios with an extra $8.4M from 64 offshore markets. This is the 12th weekend (!) for the Paramount/Skydance Tom Cruise missile which has now grossed $704.2M offshore and $1.378B worldwide. In IMAX, it is at $102M.
The overseas drop was 19%. In another case of Japan pitching upwards, TGM’s weekend was 24% higher than last. The local gross is $82M. Brazil also leaned higher with a 17% hike to capture $21.8M to date. Overall market cumes are led by the UK ($97.2M), Japan, Korea ($62.8M), Australia ($61.6M) and France ($52.8M).
Warner Bros’ DC League Of Super-Pets added $7.7M in the third frame across 69 markets for a good 38% drop. The international cume is now $51.4M for $109.7M global. Korea was new this session with $883K on 585 screens, coming in ahead of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 by 8%. Top markets to date are the UK ($9.9M), Mexico ($5.5M), France ($4M), Spain ($2.9M) and Germany ($2.3M). Still to release are Japan later this month and Italy and Australia in September.
Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Love And Thunder hammered out another $6.2M from 48 material markets to bring the international total so far to $395.1M and global to $720.5M. The fourquel saw a 46% dip from last session and has its highest grosses in the UK ($41.8M), Australia ($29.3M), Mexico ($28.3M), Korea ($22.6M) and Brazil ($21.8M).
Universal trotted out Nope this weekend in 19 overseas markets, generating $6.3M to take the worldwide tally to $113.9M. The UK debuted on Friday as director Jordan Peele’s widest ever release in the market, taking $2.15M at No. 1. Australia ($1.25M) and France ($1.12M) followed. Also notable, Italy gave it a No. 1 slot with $300K and Taiwan set the biggest opening day pandemic record for a horror/thriller on Friday, ending the weekend at $200K.
Nope is on a staggered offshore release plan with Korea, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Japan still to come throughout August.
In general, we’re seeing an overall ease with no new wide studio tentpole releases overseas during the final stages of summer, but there’s action popping around the globe for local pics. China’s Moon Man raised its cume to RMB 2.43B ($360M) through Sunday, including $15.1M from IMAX. New China entry The Fallen Bridge opened to RMB 122M ($18M) after debuting on Saturday. In Korea, Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae’s directorial debut Hunt (which premiered in Cannes) bowed atop the chart there at $12M. And, in Japan, One Piece Film: Red continues its strong run (details to come on Monday).
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Jurassic World Dominion (UNI): $4.8M intl weekend (86 markets); $601.4M intl cume/$974.5M global
*Beast (UNI): $4.7M intl weekend (30 markets); $4.7M intl cume
Elvis (WB): $2.8M intl weekend (69 markets); $120.2M intl cume/$261.5M global
The Black Phone (UNI): $1.5M intl weekend (75 markets); $65M intl cume/$152.7M global
Where The Crawdads Sing (SNY): $1M intl weekend (4 markets); $14.8M intl cume/$87M global
*Denotes new