Over There: International Box Office Report

By Edwin Davies

June 13, 2016

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Despite failing to find a sizable audience at the domestic box office, Warcraft dominated internationally with a weekend total of $185.8 million. Much of that came from China where, having opened mid-week, the Universal release earned a massive $156 million. In addition to being a new Chinese opening weekend record, that's more than Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned during its entire run in China. This could be a hugely frontloaded result since World of Warcraft is hugely popular in China, and fanboy rushes are always a possibility with geek properties, but even if that's the case, it should have no problem clearing $300 million there, which could very easily push the global total for the film over half a billion before all is said and done.

So, that's a success, right? If the usual rule of thumb is that a film needs to earn three times its budget to see a profit, and Warcraft cost about $160 million to make, then a finish higher than $480 million would be enough to break even? The answer is a resounding “kind of.” While that rule of thumb is generally good to go on, it's also very general, and doesn't account for the problem that Hollywood studios take home much less from China than they do from other countries because the restrictions on what foreign releases can be shown there are designed to keep as much of the box office in the country as possible. Some estimate that studios take home as little as 10% of the Chinese gross, so even a $300-400 million run there would not swell Universal's coffers all that much. Still, from a PR standpoint a huge result in China is a coup, and allows them to save face and maybe push ahead with a sequel aimed at making even more money outside of America, which has soundly rejected the idea of a franchise based on the Blizzard property. The worldwide total for Warcraft is currently $286 million.

In a distant second is The Conjuring 2, the sequel to James Wan's surprise horror hit from 2013. It earned $50 million from 45 territories, which represented a huge increase from the first film's opening weekend in the same countries three years ago. In fact, it set opening weekend records for a horror film in 26 of them, so this is a resounding success all around. The first Conjuring earned $180.6 million overseas and $318 million worldwide, and this result suggests that, even if the sequel doesn't have the legs of part one (a very probably outcome considering the weaker reviews and audience response), it could still finish with a higher global total. Currently, The Conjuring 2 has a worldwide total of $90.4 million, and is the rare 2016 sequel that looks set to do pretty well compared to its predecessor.




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Speaking of sequels that could have done better, X-Men: Apocalypse is third with $25 million. The threequel/sixquel/ninequel, depending on how you slice it, has so far earned $342 million, giving it a new worldwide total of $478.3 million, which places it third when compared to all of the previous films in the X-Men series.

Now You See Me 2 is fourth with $20.1 million, a solid start for a sequel that no one seemed to be clamoring for. The first Now You See Me was a surprise hit domestically back in 2013, earning $117.7 million, but was an even bigger internationally with $234 million. The sequel, which has scenes set in China because money, might not be able to reach those heights, but it will probably do well enough to justify a third film, which has to be called Now You 3 Me, otherwise why even bother making these?

Fifth on the chart is our fourth sequel in a row, Alice Through the Looking Glass, which is doing…what's a polite way of saying “catastrophically badly”? It added $14.6 million for a new overseas total of $151 million, which admittedly dwarfs its domestic total of $62.4 million, but suggests that international audiences are just as unenthusiastic about returning to Wonderland as North America ones were.

In sixth place is another disappointing sequel in the lumpy CGI form of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. It earned $13.3 million for a soft new total of $55.3 million. Globally, the film is currently sitting at $116.3 million.

Seventh belongs to The Angry Birds Movie, which is slowly winding down its fairly successful run. It earned $10.4 million, which brings its international total to $213.9 million and its global one to $312 million. Despite a reasonably strong showing, it looks like Warcraft will beat it in the race to pass Prince of Persia's global total of $336.3 million as the highest grossing video game adaptation ever.

The Jungle Book is in eighth place on the back of an opening in South Korea, one of the last countries on its release schedule. It earned $7.5 million, which helped push the film over the $900 million mark globally. The Disney smash has so far earned $557.2 million internationally and $909.8 million worldwide.

Money Monster is ninth with $5.2 million. The thriller from Jodie Foster which feels like it should have come out in 1998 has so far earned $36.2 million internationally and $76 million globally, off a modest $27 million budget.

Finally this week we have Me Before You, the low budget tearjerker that is shaping up to be a decent little earner for Warner Bros. It added $5.1 million, giving it a new international total of $18.4 million and a global one of $55.2 million.


     


 
 

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