UPDATE, writethru: Hollywood movies had another solid holdover session at the international box office this weekend, with slight drops essentially across the board — and some new or near milestones as audiences continue to flock to cinemas for varied fare (it helps that the mercury mercifully let up in certain areas). There were no new wide offshore releases this frame — Universal’s Nope starts overseas rollout in August.
Leading the pack at offshore turnstiles this weekend is Universal/Illumination’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru which added $42.1M from 79 markets for a 25% drop and a $342.4M offshore cume. The global total through Sunday is an estimated $640.3M. Notably, Korea went bananas with the biggest Illumination opening day ever and the best animated weekend debut of the pandemic. For its part, the UK jumped 13% — a recurring theme as we’ll see below.
Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Love And Thunder is again on the doorstep of another milestone with an estimated $598.2M global through today. The offshore portion of that is $322M after a $31.8M third frame now in 48 material markets. The hold this session was -49%, better than the -53% witnessed by Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness for the comparable frame. The worldwide gross makes Thor 4 the 6th highest Hollywood release of 2022 to date.
The Taika Waititi-directed pic opened in Ukraine this session, landing No. 1, and held No. 1 in such hubs as France, Italy, Australia and Indonesia.
And then there’s Paramount/Skydance’s hypersonic Top Gun: Maverick. With an overseas drop of just 19% for $16.4M in 65 overseas markets this 9th weekend, the Tom Cruise phenomenon saw certain markets rise from last session (UK/+24%, Netherlands/+14%, Hong Kong/+29%). The international cume through today is estimated at $647.1M. That total has now overtaken the domestic haul to date for a $1,282.7M running global tally. Less than $20M now separates TGM from the $1.3B worldwide mark, and the Joseph Kosinski-directed movie will cross that this week. It is also nearing $100M in global IMAX receipts.
Universal/Amblin’s Jurassic World Dominion added $7M in 85 markets for $555.1M international and $920.6M global, likely on its way to $1B with Japan still to release on July 29.
Also of note, Warner Bros’ Elvis has crossed $200M global with a great -32% hold internationally in 73 markets. Offshore, it’s nearing $100M with $91.8M through Sunday.
In new releases, Sony’s Where The Crawdads Sing made its international debut in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with strong audience reaction and landed $4.1M from 1,400+ screens. The adaptation of the best-selling novel did best in Oz with $2.1M, followed by the UK with $1.7M and New Zealand at $280K (all including previews). Rollout continues through October.
On the local film front, Korea released sci-fi action/fantasy Alienoid from director Choi Dong-hoon this weekend, taking the top spot with $7.4M. It will face stiff competition at home from upcoming historical actioner Hansan: Rising Dragon which releases this week and is the sequel to Korea’s biggest movie ever, Roaring Currents.
In China, Detectives Vs Sleuths took the lead again on a fairly sluggish weekend and has now grossed RMB 580.4M ($86.5M). Next weekend brings out Alibaba Pictures’ sci-fi comedy Moon Man.
And, in Spain, Sony Pictures International Productions’ Padre No Hay Más Que Uno 3 dominated at No. 1 in the sophomore session, dropping 42% for a local gross of $6.9M. That’s 44% ahead of the previous installment and 48% ahead of the original after 11 days in release. The pic is now the biggest local film of the year in the market.
Breakdowns have been updated below.
MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU
With a fantastic 25% dip from last weekend, Rise Of Gru added $42.1M this session in 79 markets for an offshore cume of $342.4M to fall in line with both Minions and Despicable Me 3 at the same point. Global reached $640.3M.
Korea was the major opener this session with $6.3M, landing the biggest Illumination opening day ever and the best animated weekend debut of the pandemic as well as Illumination’s 2nd biggest weekend in the market. It ended up 2nd for the weekend behind new local pic Alienoid. In Taiwan, it opened at No. 1 with $1.7M. The UK saw 13% uplift as temperatures eased. The market has cumed $33.5M to date. Behind it are Mexico with $32.3M and Australia at $26.8. Italy releases August 18.
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
Disney/Marvel’s fourquel added $31.8M in the 3rd frame, down 49% for $322M overseas and $598.2M worldwide. The IMAX cume is $38M.
The latest MCU entry is holding at No. 1 in such markets as France, Italy, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Central America as well as Czech Rep, Slovakia, South Africa and Turkey. In Philippines, it’s the 2nd biggest movie of the pandemic.
The best holds were in Netherlands (-14%), Belgium (-17%), Argentina (-22%), Switzerland (-24%), UK (-28%), Denmark (-29%), Chile (-30%), Austria (-31%), Sweden (-31%), Norway (-32%) and Germany (-33%).
Opening in Ukraine, it grossed $300K, coming in 182% ahead of Top Gun: Maverick, 168% above Jurassic World Dominion and 156% over Doctor Strange 2 as the market comes back online.
The Top 5 hubs are the UK ($31.5M), Australia ($25.5M), Mexico ($23.2M), Korea ($22.3M) and Brazil ($17.2M).
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
With another great hold at -19%, TGM added $16.4M in 65 markets to lift the offshore cume to $647.1M and global to $1,282.7M as it races to $1.3B this week. The IMAX cume is closing in on a milestone with $98M worldwide to date. The movie has taken back PLFs in several hubs.
The UK saw significant uplift, rising 24% to cume a leading $91.9M. Japan has grossed $72.7M (dropping just 9%), Australia sped to $58.8M, Korea is now at $53.3M and France has a $48.5M cume to date.
JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION
The dinosaurs ate up another $7M in 85 markets, down just 20% from the earlier session. The overseas cume is $555.1M which is just about on par with Fallen Kingdom at the same point (excluding China). Global stands at $920.6M.
In Argentina ($11M) and Mexico ($42.8M), JWD is the top movie of the year so far. China, after 7 weekends, has grossed $154.5M. The UK jumped by 10% to cume $40.3M to date, followed by France at $27.4M and Australia at $24.6M.
The long-awaited Japan release is the end of this week.
THE BLACK PHONE
Universal/Blumhouse’s scarer had a good 5th weekend with several new openers including Australia ($1.54M) and Brazil ($1.3M). The full session was $6.9M (-27%) for an offshore cume of $51.5M making it the biggest non-sequel horror pic of the pandemic. Globally, the Ethan Hawke-starrer is at $130.1M.
Mexico leads play at $14.4M. Korea is on deck for September.
ELVIS
Warner Bros’ biopic shimmied to an added $6.7M in 73 markets, taking the running overseas cume to $91.8M and global to $210.2M.
The international drop was just 32%, including a strong regional hold of -18% in Latin America and a UK increase of 15%.
All markets have now opened with the UK leading play at $21.8M, followed by Australia ($18.7M), France ($6.3M), Japan ($4.2M) and Germany ($4.1M).