Over There

By Edwin Davies

November 17, 2014

Burning Man gets weirder every year.

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The number one film at the domestic box office this week was one in which a pair of old men act like idiots. Meanwhile, the number one film everywhere else was one in which a slightly younger man acts kind of smart. America, you're not working hard enough to dispel a lot of hurtful stereotypes.

Yes, for the second week in a row, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar topped the global box office chart and it wasn't even close. Last week, it debuted with $80 million, and this week it hit a few more territories and increased its weekend haul to a huge $106 million. Considering the well-founded concerns about whether such a long and expensive movie would be able to connect with audiences, Interstellar's total to date of $224.1 million internationally (and $321.9 million globally) has to be considered very encouraging news. If nothing else, it confirms that Christopher Nolan makes films that people feel they have to get out and see, even when the word of mouth is mixed and his reach exceeds his grasp.

Big Hero 6 hit a few more territories and earned $11.9 million, a slight increase from last week's $7.9 million. Again, this is perfectly fine considering that the film won't open in most major markets for weeks if not months. Disney and Marvel are playing a long game with this one, and a total of $36.7 million after three weeks is not bad at all.

Arguably the biggest news this weekend, in that it portends terrifying things to come, is that The Penguins of Madagascar opened in China and earned $11.3 million, good enough for third place on that opening alone. That's a very good start for the animated spin-off (Madagascar 3 earned $31 million in China in 2012, a total that the Penguins will likely match) and suggests that it will do pretty well overseas compared to its parent series. For reference, the first three Madagascar films earned between $339.1 million and $530.5 million internationally, and the first of those numbers seems like a fairly achievable baseline.




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We have a tie for fourth and fifth between Dumb and Dumber To and Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2 since both sequels earned $9 million. The big difference between the two is that Harry and Lloyd earned that from 17 territories while Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2, a Chinese romantic comedy, only needed 6.

The original Dumb and Dumber earned $120.1 million overseas back in 1994, which was pretty huge considering a) that relatively few films earned $100 million or more outside of the US back then and b) comedy is one of the few genres that tends not to travel that well. With the greatly expanded international box office, you'd think that Dumb and Dumber To would be able to exceed that handily and by many times over, but I'm not so sure. The last time a Farrelly Brothers film earned more than $100 million internationally was There's Something About Mary back in 1998. The closest they've come since then was The Heartbreak Kid, which earned $91 million in 2007, and had the benefit of starring Ben Stiller near the height of his popularity. While nostalgia can be a powerful motivator, I'd be very surprised if Dumb and Dumber To manages to earn much more than the first one did.

Sixth place goes to Gone Girl, which continues to do pretty well even after being out to most territories for more than a month. The David Fincher film added $4.8 million, which brings its overseas total to a fantastic $166.7 million.

Two films with drastically different audiences and ambitions are tied for seventh place this week as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Imitation Game both earned $4.2 million. Not much more needs to be said about TMNT at this point, other than to say that its running total is now $283.2 million and it is very slowly crawling its way to $300 million like some sort of appropriately slow animal. The Imitation Game, however, is potentially much more interesting. The biopic about pioneering mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing is being touted as a major awards contender, particularly for Benedict Cumberbatch's lead performance, and its very strong opening in the UK will surely help fuel whatever campaign The Weinstein Company have planned for the film.

There's another tie for ninth place as The Maze Runner and Ouija both earned $3.3 million. The YA adaptation has now grossed $231 million from overseas audiences, while the supposed horror has $17.5 million. Both have wildly exceeded their budgets and are most likely operating in the magic realm of pure profit at this point, but we can only hope that no one at Universal is being compelled by the spirit world to commission a sequel to Ouija.


     


 
 

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