Local Flicks Compete for International Crown
December 29, 2004
Note: Several markets were closed over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Also, due to the holidays, full figures for several of these markets are unavailable making this week's column shorter than usual.
The Incredibles were just $1.5 million of the leading pace with $21.1 million on 6,273 screens in 49 markets, and now sits at $228.3 million after crossing $200 million mid-week. All this despite having two of its biggest markets closed both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In Australia the Pixar smash-hit earned $1.4 million on 286 screens on Boxing Day alone, setting a single-day Animated record. In the U.K. the film captured $1.1 million on Boxing day and now has $46 million in that market alone.
Ocean's Twelve opening in another two markets, (Mexico and Belgium) helped the heist film finish first on the international charts with $22.6 million on 5,183 screens in 46 markets. The film opened well in Belgium where it easily took first place with $1.2 million on just 75 screens. That's up nearly 40% compared to the the original, but down nearly 10% in Euros. In Mexico the film could only manage $1.8 million on 550 screens for a rather limp per screen average. However, in most markets the film is not holding up as well as the studio would have liked. For instance, in Germany the film dropped by more than 50%, in France the decline was 44%. The only exception appears to be Italy where holidays and a serious boost to screen count helped the film climb 33% to $2.9 million over the weekend.
The first of two non-Hollywood films in the top five is Kung Fu Hustle, which debuted in 5 markets over the weekend breaking records in three of them. In its home market of China, the film took in an amazing $7.8 million on 492 screen beating the old record set by House of Flying Daggers. The film also broke records in Hong Kong with $3.2 million on 92 screens and Taiwan with $1.9 million on 45. In the other two markets the film also performed amazingly as its earned the second largest opening in Malaysia with $952,000 on 52 screens and the fifth largest in Singapore with $1.15 million on 46 screens. All in all the film made $15 million since it opened on Thursday.
Aided by a trio of east Asian openings, Polar Express was nearly flat with last weekend taking in $10.5 million on 6000 screens in 59 markets pushing its international tally to $83.8 million so far. Its best opening came in South Korea where the film opened with $1.3 million on 118 screens. In Hong Kong the film finished a distant second to Kung Fu Hustle with $381,900 on 31 screens and in Thailand it took in $199,000 on 46 screens.
Rounding out the top five for the second weekend in a row was Howl's Moving Castle. The film crossed $100 million in Japan during the mid week and after taking in another $5.6 million over the weekend it now sits at $108.8 million in its home market. The film also opened in South Korea earning $3.8 million on 243 screens there.
Other highlights on the international scene include:
Submitted by: C.S.Strowbridge
Source: Variety
Filed under: International Box Office, Shrek 2, Meet the Fockers, The Incredibles, The Polar Express, National Treasure, Ocean's Twelve, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Grudge, The Aviator, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie, Christmas with the Kranks, The Phantom of the Opera, Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, Alexander, Around the World in 80 Days, Kung Fu Hustle, House of Flying Daggers, The Clearing