Over There:
International Box Office for September 25-27, 2015

By Edwin Davies

September 28, 2015

They do look lost. And sad.

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One of the biggest box office stories of the last few years has been the growth of the Chinese market. If anyone needed proof that it's one of the largest international markets, this weekend provides it, because our number one film earned almost as much as the rest of the top five combined, despite only being released in China. That film is Lost in Hong Kong, the sequel to the Chinese comedy Lost in Thailand, which earned an estimated $100 million over the weekend, the third highest opening weekend in Chinese box office history, after only Furious 7 and Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the biggest opening ever for a Chinese film.

Second place belongs to Everest. The disaster spectacle added $33.8 million for a new total of $73.7 million. That's got to be encouraging news for Universal since the film was not able to turn its big IMAX-only numbers into a huge weekend when it expanded in the US. The film currently has a worldwide total of $96.8 million, and should be able to get to around $200 million fairly easily.

In third is Hotel Transylvania 2, which earned $29.2 million. That's a solid start for the sequel to a film which earned $210.1 million internationally back in 2012. The second film should have little trouble matching that, though how much it exceeds it by remains to be seen.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials added $28.4 million for a new total of $121.8 million. At its current rate it should manage to top the $238.2 million the first earned last year, though it may struggle to expand as Twilight and The Hunger Games managed between their first and second installments. A slight uptick like that seen between Divergent and Insurgent ($137.8 million vs. $165.1 million) seems like a reasonable expectation.




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Nancy Meyers' The Intern earned $11.7 million in its opening frame. It'll be interesting to see how this one does over the weeks ahead since the film doesn't have a huge amount of buzz surrounding it, but Meyers' brand of comedy filmmaking has proven to be very popular with overseas audiences; all of her films with the exception of 1998's The Parent Trap earned more than $100 million overseas, with even a domestic disappointment like The Holiday earning $141.9 million. The combination of Meyers with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway should probably be enough to keep that trend going.

Inside Out is sixth with $8 million as the Pixar film slowly edges towards $800 million worldwide. There's not much more to say about the success of this film, other than that its international total is now $421 million and its global one is $774.5 million, which places it fifth and third, respectively, amongst all Pixar films.

South Korean historical epic The Throne continues to do well in seventh place, earning $7.9 million for a new total of $23 million.

Eighth is a dead heat between German comedy Fack ju Gohte 2 and Chinese romance The Third Way of Love, both of which earned $7.5 million. The Third Way of Love is only getting started, whereas Fack ju Gohte 2 has now earned a very impressive $52 million.

Finally this week is Minions, which continues its slow slide off the chart with $6.8 million. That pushed its overseas total to $800.7 million, and its global one to $1.13 billion.


     


 
 

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