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Anyone who follows box office numbers closely might have noticed that, Transformers aside, the last few weeks have been fairly subdued when it comes to overseas debuts. You'd think that studios would be releasing their films on as big a scale as possible, with films opening at home and abroad at the same time whenever possible, both in the hopes of combating piracy and just to get those juicy "X opens to $200/300/400 million worldwide" headlines.

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.

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