Over There: International Box Office
By Edwin Davies
July 14, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Any other year, that would be the case, but this year is a World Cup year. If you've ever doubted the global appeal of soccer, bear in mind that Paramount staggered the release pattern of what will probably be the biggest global hit of the year because they didn't think that giant robots would be able to draw people away from watching 22 men kick a ball around. Now that the tournament has finished, we should expect to see a lot more activity in the next few weeks as films that were being held back to avoid clashes with matches start to roll out and fill the void.
In the meantime, though, we're left with an international box office chart that shows relatively little movement. Once again, Transformers: Age of Extinction reigns over all with an international take of $102 million, up from $95.8 million last weekend. A lot of that was driven by openings in new markets like Mexico, but also by its continued stellar performance in China, where it has now earned $262.6 million, a total that the film looks increasingly unlikely to earn in the US. It is now the biggest film in Chinese box office history. The Michael Bay behemoth has now earned $543.5 million outside of the US and has a global total of $752.5 million. That makes it the number one film of 2014 so far, a title that it seems unlikely to lose any time soon, if at all.
Waaaaaay back in second is How to Train Your Dragon 2, which took $34.4 million from 63 territories, bringing its international total to $197.5 million. That's a pretty respectable figure - the first Dragon film earned $277.3 million back in 2010, a number which its sequel should surpass as it opens in more countries - but, much like the domestic box office for the film, it feels weirdly lackluster considering how popular and beloved the first film was, as well as the extent to which the international box office has expanded in the last four years. It'll still likely surpass half a billion worldwide by the end of its run, but it says a lot about the esteem that this series is held in that even that feels like a baffling disappointment.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which had a terrific debut in the US this week, made a more modest start to its international campaign, opening in only 27 territories. From those, it earned $31.1 million, which might seem low, but bear in mind that it matched or surpassed the opening of its predecessor in pretty much all of them. That's an incredibly encouraging sign for the exceptional sequel, especially when we consider that the first film earned $305 million overseas back in 2011. If that kind of expansion continues across all territories, Dawn should have no problem earning between $500 and $700 million globally, setting the stage for the third film, Noon of the Planet of the Apes.
Disney's Maleficent continues its phenomenal run in fourth, earning $13.4 million from 46 territories. Pretty much everyone under-estimated this one before the summer began, and most predictions saw it as likely to perform similarly to Snow White and the Huntsman ($396.5 million worldwide; $155.3 million domestic, $241.2 million overseas). Since it has earned $221.9 million domestically and $447 million elsewhere, becoming Angelina Jolie's top-grossing film in the process, it's fair to say that those expectations have been thoroughly exceeded.
If you need any further convincing that this is a slow time of year as far as the international box office is concerned, or of how big of a deal China is, consider that the sixth most popular film in the world right now is Tammy, which is only playing in America and earned $12.9 million this weekend, and that the films in seventh and eighth place are a pair of Chinese comedies that have made a negligible impact outside of their homeland to date. Old Boys: The Way of the Dragon and The Breakup Guru earned $12.4 million and $11 million respectively. You may not have heard of either of them, but consider this: the Breakup Guru has earned $91.5 million so far, almost all of it from China, which means that, in terms of global box office, the stars of the Breakup Guru are as big or bigger deal than Johnny Depp, Adam Sandler and the Muppets right now.
The superlative performance of The Fault in Our Stars domestically might have obscured the fact that, as big a hit as it has been in America, it has done just as well with foreign audiences. The John Green weeper starring rising star Shailene Woodley and walking anagram Ansel Elgort earned $7.8 million this weekend, bringing its overseas total to $118.5 million. It has effectively matched its domestic take, and will most likely exceed it by this time next week. For a heartfelt drama that cost $12 million, grossing nearly 20 times its budget is nothing short of astonishing.
At number ten is 22 Jump Street, which took $6.3 million, pushing its take outside of the States to $81.7 million. The Lord/Miller comedy (their second film to gross more than $250 million worldwide this year after The LEGO Movie) has seen solid growth from its predecessor, which earned $63.1 million from foreign audiences back in 2012. $28 million of that came from the UK alone, almost double 21 Jump Street's total there, and it still hasn't opened in most territories, so there's every reason to expect 22 Jump Street to ultimately cross the $100 million mark internationally. That's doubly impressive since comedies tend not to travel well outside of their country of origin unless they're animated or incredibly high-concept.
Finally, here's an interesting tidbit from the lower reaches of the chart. The 11th most popular film internationally this weekend was the Korean thriller The Divine Move, which earned $6 million. Despite only playing in South Korea, it almost beat the entire global take of Scott Derrickson's Deliver Us From Evil, which earned $6.1 million over the same period, only $1.4 million of which came from countries other than the US. The people who gave Deliver Us From Evil the green light are probably wondering now whether it would have been a better financial decision to set the film in Seoul rather than New York.