New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

When Jim Carrey does straight ahead comedy, he sells very well in international venues. Mr. Popper’s Penguins earned $68 million domestically and $120 million overseas. Bruce Almighty earned about $240 million both domestically and abroad, and the original Dumb and Dumber earned $120 million over there in 1994, when foreign box office didn’t carry the weight it does today. Dumb and Dumber To is an experiment that worked for Universal, and should pay off handsomely. Can Ace Ventura 3 be far behind?

Finishing second is the $165 million Big Hero 6, and after a stunning $56.2 million start last weekend, the Big Hero falls back to earth a bit this weekend. The Disney/Marvel release earned $8 million on Friday (third place, off 49% from its first Friday), but was able to take advantage of kid-friendly matinees on Saturday and Sunday to finish the weekend with a $36 million take, off 36% from its opening frame.

Wreck-It Ralph, which opened to $49 million over the same weekend in 2012, fell a similar 33% in its second weekend to $33 million. Is this cause for concern for Disney? I don’t think so, as Big Hero 6 had a big Monday and Tuesday (Veteran’s Day) this week, where it earned $15.7 million over those two weekdays, keeping it well ahead of its similar boy-targeted predecessor in Wreck-It Ralph. Big Hero 6 has amassed $111.7 million so far, crossing the $100 million mark on Saturday, only its ninth day of release. For comparison purposes, it took Wreck-It Ralph 12 days to reach $100 million. Overseas, Big Hero 6 is only out to eight territories, but has picked up $37 million already.

Third is Interstellar, which was number two on Friday, but then dropped well back as the weekend wore on. On Friday, the Mathew McConaughey film earned $8.3 million and was able to turn that Friday into a weekend take of $29.2 million. It dropped 39% from last weekend’s opening take of $47.5 million, which has to be considered a decent hold as there is a very strong love-it-or-hate-it response from moviegoers. After two weekends, the Christopher Nolan release has earned $97.8 million stateside, but the response overseas has been even bigger. Before the weekend began, Interstellar had already racked up $136 million from overseas theaters for a combined worldwide score of over $200 million. Keep in mind that Interstellar will likely need to finish close to a half-billion worldwide in order for Paramount and partners to see a profit.

Fourth is Beyond the Lights, a small, multi-cultural release from Relativity. Made for only $7.5 million, Beyond the Lights got off to a decent start, earning $6.5 million from only 1,789 venues. This is a well-made movie, earning an 84% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes and an A Cinemascore. Should word-of-mouth get out, this one could see some legs going forward, and looks to be a decent investment for Relativity.

Fifth is Gone Girl, which is now in its seventh weekend of release, and this weekend is its first not in the top four. This weekend, the Ben Affleck thriller earned another $4.6 million, off 26% from last weekend. It has now earned $152.7 million stateside, and the overseas take continues to match the domestic, which means it has a worldwide take approaching $315 million against a budget of only $61 million.

Continued:       1       2       3