On the final weekend before Avatar: The Way of Water dominates screens globally, Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever continued to lead the worldwide and international box office. The fifth session for the sequel added $11.8M in 50 overseas markets, lifting the offshore cume to $358M and global to $767.8M.
BP2’s international drop was just 43% as it remains the No. 1 non-local title in several markets including Germany, the UK, Australia, Brazil and Mexico. With $358M to date, Wakanda Forever is the No. 13 MCU release of all time (at current rates and excluding China and Russia). Globally, it is No. 12 for the MCU and No. 6 for the year. It will soon pass The Batman to rank No. 5 for 2022.
The Top 5 markets to date are the UK ($36.5M), Mexico ($34.1M), France ($38.9M), Brazil ($19.6M) and Australia ($18.1M).
The global IMAX total is now $47.7M.
Meanwhile, Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish began its international rollout, playing in 24 markets across 3,083 screens. The cume through Sunday is $8.9M, just slightly off the start of Sing 2 when excluding previews.
France was the top opener at No. 1 with $3.3M ($2.4M excluding previews). The World Cup match which saw France defeat England on Saturday heavily affected the market which was down 47% versus last year. School holidays begin December 17 with no animated competition.
Italy debuted at a clear No. 1 with $2.1M ($1.4M excluding previews) from 500 locations. The launch is more than double the opening of Sing 2 and is the No. 2 animated opening weekend of 2022 behind only Minions: The Rise of Gru. It’s also the No. 3 animated bow of the pandemic, behind Rise of Gru and Encanto (excluding previews).
Next up was Singapore with $500K for No. 1. Extensive sneaks had already begun with “Caturday” previews on November 26, followed by daily screenings from December 3-7 to generate strong word of mouth. Results are above the opening of Sing 2 excluding previews.
Belgium ($418K including previews), Saudi Arabia ($307K) and Romania ($306K) round out the Top 5.
There is much more play to come for Puss In Boots, with Spain, Germany, Mexico and Australia on deck for Christmas, and Korea and Brazil just after the New Year.
Before we get there, the coming week is all about Avatar: The Way of Water which releases overseas beginning on Wednesday with domestic joining on Friday.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Violent Night (UNI): $4.6M intl weekend (75 markets); $15.1M intl cume/$41.8M global
Strange World (DIS): $3.7M intl weekend (43 markets); $23M intl cume/$53.5M global
The Menu (DIS): $3.6M intl weekend (51 markets); $28.7M intl cume/$57.7M global
Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical (SNY): $2.5M intl weekend (UK only); $13M UK cume
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (SNY): $1.6M intl weekend (53 markets); $41.4M intl cume/$87.6M global
Black Adam (WB): $1.5M intl weekend (73 markets); $222M intl cume/$389M global
Bones and All (WB): $757K intl weekend (45 markets); $5.8M intl cume/$13.1M global
She Said (UNI): $725K intl weekend (58 markets); $4.6M intl cume/$10.3M global