Over There: International Box Office Report
By Edwin Davies
June 6, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Second place goes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, a strong contender for the most exhausting title I've ever had to type for this column. TMNT:OOTS (oof, that's not much better) earned $34 million from 41 territories, which is slightly less than what the first film debuted to back in 2014. However, that film opened later in the summer when more kids are out of school, so Paramount's plan this time seems to be to try and make this release more of a marathon than a sprint. They'll also be hoping to build on the first film's success in China, which provided $62.1 million of the $302.1 million that TMNT earned overseas. Like Apocalypse, Out of the Shadows probably needs to earn around $450-500 million to see any profit, and its current global total of $69.2 million is something of a soft start.
In third is another sequel that needs to earn a lot of money to justify its existence (hey, I can see a depressing trend forming!) in the form of Alice Through The Looking Glass. Last week's champion shrinks down this week like someone eating a magic cake, taking a pretty weak $30.9 million for a new international total of $125.5 million. Combined with its anemic US gross, its total of $176.2 million is roughly $300 million short of where it needs to end up, and short of a heroic turnaround in Asia - which is possible since the first film did very well in South Korea and Japan, where Looking Glass won't open until later in its run - then this is going to be a costly misstep for all involved.
Warcraft continues to do okay overseas ahead of its US debut this week. It earned $29.9 million, good for fourth place and swelling its total to $70 million to date. It still hasn't opened in most territories, so this one is shaping up to be at least a moderate success for Universal, even if it's too early to tell if it will be the franchise-launcher that they dearly want it to be.
The Angry Birds Movie is fifth, as the adaptation of the popular app looks to topple Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (global: $336.3 million) to become the highest grossing videogame adaptation ever. That's an admittedly low bar in the world of blockbuster entertainment, but an achievable one since the film has so far earned $196.8 million internationally and $283.4 million worldwide, all off a $73 million budget.
In sixth place is The Handmaiden, the latest film from acclaimed South Korean director Park Chan-Wook, who is still probably most famous in the West for directing Oldboy. It earned $10.7 million and has a running total of $12.7 million.
Money Monster is seventh, as the largely forgotten star vehicle gets a bit of a boost from opening in a swath of territories in Europe. The Jodie Foster-directed thriller earned $8.3 million, bringing its international cume to $28.3 million and its global one to $66.5 million. That's shaping up to be a decent result for a film with a $27 million budget.
Me Before You debuts in eighth place with $7.7 million, giving it a global debut of $25.9 million. These kind of weepies tend not to do huge business internationally (with the very notable exception of The Fault in Our Stars, which earned $182.9 million overseas) but they don't need to since they tend to be made cheaply. This one cost only $20 million, so it should make out pretty well.
Deadpool finally arrived in Japan this weekend and the Merc with a Mouth brought in $6.5 million. That may sound low, but bear in mind that this is the biggest debut ever for an X-Men-related film. Not that the Fox release needs much in the way of plaudits or superlatives at this point, since its running total of $409.3 million internationally and $772.2 million globally, all against a tiny (for superhero movies) budget of $58 million, makes this easily one of the most profitable superhero movies ever.
Rounding out the top ten this week we have The Nice Guys, Shane Black's incredibly fun crime caper starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. It opened in a handful of territories this weekend, including the UK, Brazil and Pakistan, and earned $5.5 million. Talky comedies, even ones with big names and entertaining action, tend not to do that well outside of the US on account of the cultural/language barriers, so international numbers might not be enough to overcome the film's soft US total of $29.1 million to date. Still, $12 million internationally is still $12 million.
Finally, in news that falls outside of the top ten but is significant, Zootopia earned $3.6 million this weekend which, when combined with the $790,000 it earned in the US, pushed it over the $1 billion mark worldwide, becoming the second film of 2016 to manage that feat after Captain America: Civil War. That also makes it one of the most successful Disney animated movies ever, behind only Frozen, and is yet another sign that this shaping up to be a very good year for Disney (Alice and The Finest Hours aside).