How To Train Your Dragon 2 continued its strong run overseas with $24M this weekend for a cume of $260.2M internationally. Debuting in Germany this weekend, it was No. 1 in admissions, and No. 2 in box office earnings with $6.1M on 1,074 screens. In Austria, it outperformed the first film in the franchise by 210%, taking $1M on 163 screens. The DreamWorks Animation adventure also took off in Korea, which is a non-Fox market. There, it placed No. 2 behind anticipated local movie Kundo: Age Of The Rampant. Nevertheless, it opened to $7.36M on 828 screens in the fast-burn market. Holdovers saw small drops or improvements, including in Denmark (+15%), Holland (+58%) and Chile (+16%). Spain, Italy and China are next to bow in August.
Step Up All In, the Lionsgate fivequel that sashayed its way onto the overseas stage last week, added 13 new markets and $6.3M for an $18.6M cume this frame. The all-star Las Vegas showdown was No. 1 in South Africa with $491K. Strong results were also recorded in Hong Kong ($721K on 40 screens), and French-speaking Switzerland ($105K from 18 screens). Universal is releasing in 18 territories and contributed $1.5M of the overall weekend gross and $4.6M of the running international cume. The UK bows next week.
Sony’s Sex Tape added an estimated $6.1M from 18 markets this weekend, bringing the overseas cume to $10.2M. The Jake Kasdan film was No. 3 in Russia with $2.6M on 961 screens. Here’s an interesting comp in a market known for its love of action: The bow was 64% bigger than Neighbors — a more male-skewing comedy — while it was just about on par (+3%) with The Other Woman, a female-themed laffer that also stars Sex Tape’s Cameron Diaz. Conversely, in Spain, its No. 2 bow of $940K on 348 screens was 15% better than Neighbors and 92% more than The Other Woman. In Australia, which loved TOW a few months back, Sex Tape fell 42% for a $1.3M frame and a $4.5M cume.
Horror pic The Purge: Anarchy is playing in 23 international territories and Universal says the early results are good. Performing 22% ahead of its predecessor, the sequel added $6M at 1,590 dates for an early international total of $6.7M. The UK and Ireland opened No. 3 behind Hercules with an estimate of $1.9M at 385 dates. The bow is the biggest for a horror/suspense title this year. France was No. 3 with $1.6M at 200 dates; Italy opened at No. 2 with $1M at 250 dates; the James DeMonaco–directed movie about an annual day of sanctioned violence, was No. 3 with $629K at 233 dates on a slow Spanish weekend; Argentina opened No. 7 with $345K at 60 dates; and the Netherlands opened No. 7 with $260K at 50 dates.
After crossing $700M globally during the week, Disney’s Maleficent added $5.2M overseas this frame for an international cume of $482.9M and a worldwide magic bag of $715.2M.
Fox romance/tearjerker The Fault In Our Stars, which goosed the overall box office in Brazil during the World Cup (only a 5% drop during the tournament compared to the same period last year), added $566K there in its 8th frame. Overall, the Shailene Woodley movie added $3.18M this weekend for an overseas cume of $134.97M. Tears fell for the first time in Taiwan and Thailand with $296K and $175K, respectively. Germany, which has had the movie for seven frames, was 13% up on last weekend with $486K. Hong Kong opens next.
Universal’s local UK comedy Mrs Brown’s Boys D’ Movie added $355K at 287 dates there for a cume of $22.8M. It also bowed Down Under where the TV series has a steady following. In Oz, it opened at No. 2 with $1.8M at 238 dates. It was also No. 2 in New Zealand with $470K at 86 dates, 59% bigger than the forecast.
Sony’s 22 Jump Street added an estimated $2M from 46 territories this weekend. That’s inching the international cume closer to $100M. Since bowing in May, the comedy has taken $92.5M in offshore receipts. There are still important markets like Germany, Spain, France and Mexico to open. Italy bowed No. 3 this week with a five-day gross of $300K on 124 screens. That was four times the lifetime gross of 21 Jump Street. Also from Sony, horror pic Deliver Us From Evil delivered an estimated $1.3M from 27 markets for an overseas cume of $7.9M. Australia debuted with $920K on 152 screens, well ahead of comps like The Devil Inside, Carrie and Insidious: Chapter 2. Upcoming, Evil heads to Italy, the UK and Russia.
Universal’s frat comedy Neighbors cranked up $1.3M at 1,030 dates in 26 territories and raised the international total to $107.3M this weekend. Belgium opened No. 1 with $495K at 30 dates. Mexico is the top holdover with a 25-day total of $5.2M. Neighbors is next on tap in France, French-speaking Switzerland, Italy and Venezuela throughout August.
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is currently playing in five Universal territories where it added an estimated $640k at 375 dates this weekend. The early international total is $5.7M. There were no new openings this frame, but Universal added 80 dates in the UK for $470K at 249 dates and a 17-day total of $2.4M. Germany added $125K at 82 dates in its 8th weekend for a 60-day total of $2.6M.
In the UK, where he earned $2.5M at 438 locations, the demi-god appeared in a crowded field of indies, animation and horror. Reviews there have been so-so with critics calling the summer escapism “engagingly preposterous,” and “not as terrible as one might expect.” The film has yet to bow in the other major European markets, but in Australia had a No. 1 with $3.5M at 222 locations. Hercules also journeyed to several Asian territories where it had strong No. 1s including in Malaysia ($1.6M from 110), Philippines ($1.2M from 134), Taiwan ($1.2M) and Singapore ($1.1M at 27).
Paramount has some other bragging rights this weekend with Transformers: Age Of Exctinction officially passing the $300M mark in China – the only film ever to do so. Through Sunday, Michael Bay and the Autobots earned $301M in the Middle Kingdom, having added $5.4M at 3,800 locations this frame. Overall, the international gross this weekend was $37.5M at 14,375 locations. The overseas cume after five frames is now $730M for a worldwide total of $966.35M. Domestically, TAOE had a three-day of $4.6M on about 1/6 of the screens.
In Germany, TAOE had a 2nd weekend haul of $7.3M for a $24.1M cume. (However, local reports right now have How To Train Your Dragon 2 in the top spot during its opening weekend — I’ll update on that in just a bit.) In France, TAOE placed No. 1 for the 2nd frame in a row with $3.7M at 901 locations. The cume to-date is $15.9M. In Brazil, the blockbuster was off 42% for $3.4M in its sophomore frame and $22.2M to date. Mexico’s 3rd weekend was worth $2M from 630 locations, for a $30.1M run thus far. In the No. 1 slot again, Italy also added $2M from 343 locations for a market total of $9.2M. In it’s 3rd UK weekend, TAOE delivered $1.4M from 472 locations and has a cume of $29.7M.
I’ll be back shortly with figures from other studio bows and holdovers.