Over There: International Box Office Report

By Edwin Davies

July 5, 2016

Who you got - the yacht or the flaming alien ship?

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Although it was only Independence Day in the US this weekend, Independence Day: Resurgence brought a little bit of freedom and a lot of extremely shoddy filmmaking to the rest of the world. The 20-years-later (and at least 15 years late) sequel was number one for a second consecutive week with $40.2 million, swelling its running totals to $177 million internationally and $249.6 million globally. Roland Emmerich’s films tend to do well overseas (as long as they aren’t dramas that horribly misrepresent history), with even 10,000 B.C. earning $175 million back in 2008. Resurgence continues that trend, though it’s unlikely to scale the heights of 2012 ($603.6 million overseas total), Emmerich’s biggest international hit.

In second place is Pixar’s Finding Dory, which earned $34.4 million. The fishy sequel hasn’t even opened in a lot of major territories yet and has already earned $166 million, so it should have little trouble replicating the kind of success that it has already achieved domestically on the world stage. For the moment, it’s content to just do pretty well, having crossed the half billion mark globally without breaking a sweat. Assuming, that is, that fish sweat. Can’t say that I’ve done the research on that one.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows opened in China this weekend and lands in third place on the back of that result. It earned $30.5 million in total, with $26.1 million of that coming from Chinese audiences. It has now earned $109.2 million outside of the US and has a new worldwide total of $188.7 million, which is mediocre when you consider its $135 million budget.

Now You See Me 2 is another film benefiting from a decent showing at the Chinese box office, though it has faded after a strong opening last weekend. It earned $20.8 million this weekend for a new overseas total of $155.6 million, which drove its global total to $214.2 million. Both are pretty far short of the results for the first film ($234 million/$351.7 million), however.

Ice Age: Collision Course opened in seven territories ahead of its US debut on July 22nd and earned $20 million, good enough for fifth place. Ice Age is one of those series which has never broken out in a major way, domestically - the highest grossing entry, 2009’s Dawn of the Dinosaurs, earned $196.6 million in the US, which is pretty middling by animation standards, while the last film, 2012’s Continental Drift, hit a series-low of $161.3 million. However, the series was something of an innovator when it came to relying on overseas grosses to become profitable: Continental Drift, despite its weak US showing, earned a series-best $715.9 million internationally, or 81.6% of its worldwide total. It’s unclear if the same thing will occur with Collision Course, considering that it’s been so long between sequels, but it’s certainly off to a strong start.




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The Legend of Tarzan got off to a slow start internationally, earning $18.8 million from a modest 20 territories. This is one of the biggest question marks at the moment when it comes to international box office since it’s hard to gauge whether or not international audiences will flock to a new telling of a very old story. They did for Disney’s new Jungle Book mere months ago ($574.9 million internationally and climbing) but not for John Carter ($211 million), another Edgar Rice Burroughs property of questionable commercial prospects. It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays in the weeks ahead, especially given the less than enthusiastic response from critics.

Bounty Hunters, a Chinese-South Korean action film which is looking set to be a smash hit in China, is seventh with a first weekend take of $16.4 million.

Central Intelligence is eighth, having expanded into a bunch of extra territories, including the U.K., Australia and Mexico. It earned $13.8 million, almost doubling its overseas take in a single weekend. The action comedy has now earned $30.3 million internationally, and $122 million worldwide.

The Conjuring 2 lands in ninth with a take of $13.1 million. The horror sequel has now earned $178.8 million overseas, and is mere days away from topping the $180 million that the first film earned in 2013. The global tally for the $40 million ghost story is now a spectacular $274 million.

Finally this week we have Me Before You, another modestly budgeted effort from Warner Bros. which, like The Conjuring 2, will probably give them a bigger profit than Tarzan given that both have already earned nearly seven times their respective budgets. The drama cost only $20 million to make, earned $12.2 million this weekend alone, and has a new international total of $83 million, while its global one stands at $136.6 million.


     


 
 

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