Over There: International Box Office Report
By Edwin Davies
June 21, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Conjuring 2 is in second place with $41.9 million as the horror sequel continues to expand and holds up fairly well in all the markets it had already hit. It’s already earned $117.5 million overseas, which suggests that it will have little problem overtaking the first Conjuring’s internationally total of $180.6 million. Depending on how much it outperforms the previous film, it could even make up for a lower domestic gross to come out on top globally as well. The Conjuring earned $318 million worldwide back in 2013, while its followup already has $188.6 million.
After a furious couple of weeks racking up big numbers in China, Warcraft slows down to a crawl this week as it earned $17.7 million internationally for a new total of $333.9 million, or almost ten times what it has earned in the US. It also became the highest grossing movie based on a videogame ever thanks to its global total of $371.6 million, though that’s more or less where the good news ends. As good as the film has done outside of the US, it’s now opened pretty much everywhere, with Japan the only major territory left on its schedule. Now that the initial rush is done, it’s probably going to struggle to get to more than $450 million, and even if it does, profitability would still be a long way away.
Now You See Me 2 is third with $15.8 million, giving it a new running total of $49.7 million. The film has underperformed compared to the first Now You See Me, but it could see a big turnaround this weekend after it opens in China on Friday. Significant sections of the film were shot in the country, which is a fairly typical ploy for boosting a Hollywood production’s chances of making a dent in the Chinese box office. Whether or not that will work remains to be seen. The magician thieves sequel has so far earned $91 million worldwide.
Me Before You is fifth, having expanded into a handful of territories like Australia and Brazil. It was rewarded with $13.5 million, bringing its international total to $36 million. As a modestly budgeted romance, Me Before You was always going to make most of its money at the domestic box office, but its global total of $82.3 million is a strong result for the genre.
In sixth place is X-Men: Apocalypse, which earned $12.8 million and looks like it will vastly underperform compared to its immediate predecessors, Deadpool and Days of Future Past, in terms of domestic and global totals, but does seem to be establishing a new baseline for the series when it comes to international numbers. Prior to Days of Future Past, no X-Men-related film had earned $300 million internationally, with The Wolverine getting closest but finishing with $282.3 million. Apocalypse is the third film in a row since Days of Future Past to earn more than $300 million, and with its current total of $362.3 million, looks like it’ll be the third in a row to earn more than $400 million as well. That reinforces the sense that the X-Men series is something of a mid-tier franchise compared to the MCU, but it also represents a significant bump for the series, which will probably allow it to remain a going concern for at least a few more years.
Continuing the rundown of sequels that didn’t do that well is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. The ugly-looking film has been putting up some ugly-looking numbers over the last few weeks, and this one is no different. The heroes in a half-shell (who will probably have to cut back to a quarter-shell if they want to make a sequel) earned $10.5 million this weekend for a new international total of $70.8 million. It still has a lot of big territories to come, including France, China and Japan, but so far audiences aren’t showing as much interest or enthusiasm as they did for the quartet’s first outing.
Alice Through the Looking Glass is eighth with $8 million, giving it a new international total of $166.7 million. It’s a sign of how huge a success the first film was that a global total of $236 million can be described as an abject failure, but any time a film looks to earn 60-70 percent less than its predecessor, you know that something has gone horribly wrong.
Central Intelligence is ninth with $6.8 million from a smattering of territories. It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out internationally since Kevin Hart’s star vehicles have generally not done well outside of the US (excluding early roles, cameos and bit parts, his biggest overseas earner is Ride Along 2 with $33.4 million) whereas the opposite is true of The Rock, who is coming off his best non-Fast & Furious result in the shape of San Andreas, which earned $318.8 million internationally last year. Comedies don’t travel that well outside of the US, but one which so prominently features an international superstar could potentially break out.
The Angry Birds Movie rounds out the top ten with $6.3 million, for a new international total of $224.5 million. Based on this precedent, we can probably expect the Cut The Rope movie to earned $1 billion with ease.