UPDATE: Universal/Warner Bros/Amblin’s Twisters positively blasted past forecasts domestically this session. While the international box office result is pretty close to where we saw it coming in, there’s no denying this is much more of a domestic play.
The global cume, largely boosted by domestic’s heartland turnout this weekend, is now $123.2M. Universal has domestic rights and Warner is handling overseas where $27.1M was wrangled from 76 markets this frame. That’s after early release in 38 markets last session. This weekend saw a 30% drop overall overseas, for a $42.7M offshore cume.
Latin America had great holds at Colombia (+8%), Argentina (+1%), Mexico (-22%), Peru (-23%) and Brazil (-31%). Australia was down just 21%. Japan and and Korea are still to release.
Nostalgia is not so prevalent for the original Twisters overseas, but with good social and critical scores plus holidays, maybe we see some uptick ahead. That’s gonna be tough for any film in the face of Deadpool & Wolverine, of course. Still, summer is only at the half-point and the more movies we have in cinemas the better.
To wit: Illumination/Universal’s Despicable Me 4 topped the $500M global mark this week and is now closing in on $600M. With a 42% dip from last session overseas, DM4 added $52M from 79 overseas markets. That takes the international box office cume to $315M and global to $574.4M. Korea and Italy are still to release.
The offshore performance excluding China is in line with Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru, and above DM3 and DM2 at the same point. Through Sunday, DM4 will have surpassed the overseas box office (excluding China) of Sing 2, Ice Age: Collision Course and How to Train Your Dragon. It will also overtake offshore (including China) on Despicable Me, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.
Japan was new this session with the biggest studio opening of the year at $4.4M; above the three-day opening of MTROG and in line with three-day starts of DM3 and Minions.
In the top holdover markets, the UK added $7.1M at a clear No.1. China’s DM4 performance continues to be strong despite holding only 7% of showtimes. A $31.5M cume to date surpasses the lifetimes of Sing, Monsters University, Toy Story 4 and Moana.
In Mexico, DM4 was down just 29% in the third frame and has topped the total lifetimes of Frozen II and Ice Age 3. It is now the 3rd biggest movie of the year there.
The Top 5 on DM4 are: Mexico ($32.1M), China ($31.5M), Australia ($25.8M), UK ($23.2M), and Brazil ($18.3M).
Amid all of this is the juggernaut that is Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2. In its sixth weekend, the sequel added $34.2M in 51 material markets, lifting the international box office cume to $846.9M and global to $1,443.3M. This weekend saw Inside Out 2 pass Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1,405M) to become the No. 15 industry film of all time globally. It should pass Barbie ($1,446M) tomorrow to claim the No. 14 spot.
There is now just shy of $11M separating Inside Out 2 from Frozen II ($1.454B) to become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time globally. With Japan still on deck on August 1, the record books will be rewritten before. (Note that while there has been some debate about Disney’s 2019 The Lion King being classified as an animated film, it is not considered as such by the studio which made it under the Disney Live Action umbrella, rather than either of its animated labels; that film is widely considered by the industry as not falling into the animated category.)
The Top 5 to date on IO2 are: Mexico ($98M), Brazil ($72.8M), UK ($60M), Korea ($56.1M) and France ($50.6M). Recall that Japan is still to release on August 1.
Notable local play includes Sony Pictures International Productions’ Padre No Hay Más Que Uno 4, the latest in the hit Spanish franchise which topped the charts in Spain with a five-day total of $3.7M, the highest opening for a local title since 2022. The series has now grossed over $50M at the Spanish box office.
In China, new local comedy, Successor, debuted on Tuesday and has since grossed an estimated $213M, setting it up as the big breakout of the summer for local films in the market. The Imax portion was $8.5M.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
A Quiet Place: Day One (PAR): $5.2M intl weekend (67 markets); $113.8M intl cume/$241.4M global
Fly Me to the Moon (SNY): $3.8M intl weekend (58 markets); $14.3M intl cume/$30.7M global
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (SNY): $3.2M intl weekend (63 markets); $198.7M intl cume/$388M global
The Bikeriders (UNI): $507K intl weekend (62 markets); $13.2M intl cume/$34.4M global