Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros/DC’s The Flash sped into 78 overseas markets this weekend, grossing $75M, below the $85M-$95M we saw coming into the frame. With domestic’s slow-crawl three-day included, that makes for a $139M global opening. This is lower than projections, with general audiences not rushing out to see the deeper universe pic.
As we noted coming into the frame, there was a question mark over how deeply the tabloid headlines surrounding star Ezra Miller have seeped into overseas awareness. The initial audience was ultimately more fanboy and male-skewing. There’s an emotional story linked with The Flash/Barry Allen’s mother in the film, but females didn’t come out. Reaction was mixed. China had a great 9.3 score on Maoyan while France’s AlloCiné score is a not great 3 out of 5 stars and critics are low there at 2.5. Some UK reviews are on the low end as well. The film’s premiere at CinemaCon was well-received, and the movie has an 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, but it’s tough to market a movie when you can’t travel the star, something that is key to generating buzz, particularly in offshore markets.
There were No. 1s in 54 markets this weekend while the Andy Muschietti-directed pic is tracking roughly on par with Black Adam in like-for-like offshore hubs and at today’s exchanges. That movie went on to gross $225M internationally, but was not considered a success, and not really the comp folks were hoping for.
Regionally, the Middle East came in at $3.7M as the Eid holiday looms. In Western Europe, weather was a contributing factor. The Flash is tracking akin to origins stories Ant-Man and Shazam! there. Latin America, which is a big fan of DC movies, had 50% share of the Top 5 films, tracking on par with the launch weekend of Wonder Woman.
IMAX grosses accounted for $15.6M worldwide including $7.4M from international. Indexing was high in such markets as China, the UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea.
In terms of individual markets, China was always a swing, and ended up coming in at an estimated $13.8M, lower than hoped for despite that terrific 9.3 from audiences on Maoyan (this has become a recurring theme of late: high audience scores, low returns – see also Elemental). The film was No. 1 for the frame, landing 32% ahead of the opening of The Batman and 21% above Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It led Friday play but then dipped below Transformers: Rise of the Beasts on that film’s sophomore Saturday and Sunday.
To note, there’s not much action expected for Hollywood films in China ahead this week given the Dragon Boat Festival on Thursday will usher in 10 new local releases.
Mexico was next with $9.4M, taking the No. 1 slot and 56% market share of the Top 5 films. Opening weekend results are tracking ahead of Black Adam (+53%), Shazam! (+45%), Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (+21%) and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Wonder Woman (+4%).
The UK grossed $5.3M at No. 1 and 41% higher than last weekend’s Rise of the Beasts. There’s been very hot weather in the UK which is shifting, so hope is for good midweek results.
Korea grossed $3.8M at No. 3, behind local juggernaut The Roundup: No Way Out (which is closing in on $70M) and Elemental, and roughly on par with Black Adam and Shazam!. Brazil is a big DC market and gave The Flash a No. 1 start at $3.5M, roughly on par with Quantumania and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as well as 23% ahead of Rise of the Beasts.
The other new studio release this session was Disney/Pixar’s Elemental which landed within the opening range with $15M from 17 material markets repping just 30% of the offshore footprint. Along with domestic, the global launch is $44.5M. Ahead of the weekend, Elemental, from director Peter Sohn, was looking at $12M on the low end and $17M on the high, with China again the swing factor. In the end, Europe, Latin America and Korea came in just okay while other markets, notably Australia, were soft and disappointing. Word of mouth could help here, particularly as there’s not much in the way of family competition ahead.
Like The Flash, Elemental also landed a high audience score of 9.3 on Maoyan in China. Still, the $5.2M launch is not a barn burner, even if the Sunday hold was the strongest amongst the top three films. Again, this week is going to get crowded in the market. The recent string of studio movies generating positive audience scores but not converting those to box office is of a more general concern as Hollywood movies are not resonating in the market as they used to.
In Korea, Elemental was the No. 2 non-local entry with $3.2M, ahead of The Flash as well as 39% over Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and 10% bigger than The Secret Life of Pets 2. Social scores are strong with CGV at 98%, that’s on par with Zootopia, Soul and Inside Out.
Elemental opened tops in both Argentina and Uruguay, ahead of The Flash. Both countries have holidays on Monday and Tuesday. The Top 5 openers are China, Korea, Australia ($1.1M), Argentina ($1M) and Philippines ($600K).
When the movie world premiered as the closing night gala of the Cannes Film Festival, critics didn’t exactly spark to it, but Rotten Tomatoes is now at 76% fresh from critics and it has a 91% audience note. Elemental still has lots of play ahead with France, Brazil, Italy, Germany and Mexico opening this coming week, followed by the UK and Spain in July and Japan in August.
Also of note, Disney this weekend crossed $3B globally, landing at $3.053B for the year so far.
In holdover news, Paramount/Skydance’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts added another $37.2M in 68 markets during its second weekend. The international cume is now $174.3M. Globally, Rise of the Beasts has a running cume of $278M.
China leads play with $60.6M to date, followed by Mexico at $13M, Peru at $9.1M, Indonesia with $8.2M and France and the UK at $6.1M.
Still to come are Australia/New Zealand next week and Japan on August 4.
Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is headed for its next milestone with $489.3M through Sunday globally. The international weekend snared $27.6M for a $209M cume to date in 60 markets. Japan opened this session with $2.8M to best the opening of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse by a staggering 82%. Korea releases this week.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid warbled up another $15.3M in 52 markets this frame, taking the international cume to $212.4M and global to $466M. The offshore drop this session was 50%. The Top 5 markets are the UK ($27.5M), Mexico ($19.7M), Brazil ($14.8M), Italy ($12.3M) and Australia ($11.9M).
Meanwhile, Universal’s Fast X is still humming along, overtaking the international total of Fast & Furious 6 with $534.2M after a $9.3M frame in 84 markets. The global total is now $676.6M. China has grossed $136.6M to date.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
The Super Mario Bros Movie (UNI): $3.57M intl weekend (81 markets); $754.6M intl cume/$1.327B global
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (DIS): $2.9M intl weekend (52 markets); $476.5M intl cume/$821M global
The Boogeyman (DIS): $1.8M intl weekend (50 markets); $18.6M intl cume/$51.4M global
Asteroid City (UNI): $1.4M intl weekend (18 markets); $1.73M intl cume/$2.52M global
M3GAN (UNI): $588K intl weekend (Japan only); $83.8M intl cume/$178.8M global
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