International Round-up: Small Steps Forward Around the World
May 21, 2020
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues in full force in many parts of the world, there are some places where the outbreak is contained enough that things are starting to reopen. This includes limited business in movie theaters in a handful of markets. Here’s a round-up of what we’re seeing around the world this week.
In South Korea, the top ten releases only pulled in $1.12 million in total, which is a far cry from what a major film would earn there opening day before the pandemic. Escape From Pretoria only managed a limited release here in North America, but it led the way in South Korea. Granted, its weekend haul was just $241,000 over the weekend for a total of $483,000 after two. Since we are in uncharted territory, it is impossible to say with certainty whether or not this is a success. Likewise, it is truly hard to judge the overall box office in South Korea. Clearly we haven’t recovered from the pandemic, as the box office numbers are well below those in February, never mind what they were like this time last year. However, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic; after all, Escape From Pretoria is showing impressive legs in South Korea, growing 77% from its opening weekend, which could be a sign that the overall market is growing. We will obviously keep an eye on that.
Germany’s number of active cases per capita has been very low compared to most other major markets and that has helped it begin opening theaters in a staggered fashion. That helped it earn $1.2 million this past weekend in total. Even with regular theaters beginning to open, drive-in theaters continue to dominate the box office. For example, Perfect Strangers led the way in its native market with a reported $131,500 in 60 drive-ins. The only other film to top $100,000 was Joker with $101,000 in 51.
Japan is also taking the staggered reopening strategy, but the top ten at the box office only managed $13,000 in 82 theaters. It's clear audiences are not convinced it is safe to go out, especially since they are only playing older films, like E.T..
Australia is limited to drive-ins with almost no results to talk about. Likewise, New Zealand has only minor results to report, although that country may be the closest English-speaking territory to having significant reopenings in the next few weeks.
There are some smaller markets that have more optimistic results.
Hong Kong has 100% reopened, although their box office was just $550,000 for the combined top ten. Most weeks, the top film would earn much more than that by itself.
The Czech Republic was led by a local documentary, V síti, with $40,000. That’s a lot compared to the other films we have data for, but a far cry from the nearly $800,000 it opened with back at the end of February.
Two other territories, Iceland and Norway, are reporting box office from a limited number of theaters. Earnings, like everywhere else, are very modest.
Onward is set to open in Taiwan this weekend, which is the first major test for that market.
It will still take at least weeks, if not months, for the box office market to really recover, but we will be keeping an eye on these and other major markets as they reopen.
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Filed under: International Box Office, Onward, Escape From Pretoria, V síti