Update for the latest…: Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore broke the $200 million mark at the international box office this weekend and held the top position overseas for the third straight year. Added the offshore session $38.3M in 67 markets for a running total of $213.2M with worldwide $280.3M.
As noted this past weekend and evidenced by the large drop in North America, the FB franchise is more of an international ownership and had a good -44% overseas impact this weekend. Despite this, it lags behind the previous films in the series. The Threequel performs best in typical Harry Potter markets, but doesn’t lead with the UK in particular. The top hubs to date are Germany ($23.3 million), Japan ($22.3M), United Kingdom ($21.7M), China ($17.5M) and France ($13.6M). International IMAX revenue is $12 million.
After long Covid closures Hong Kong, FBTSOD opened this session at #1 with $1.4M. The cinemas are currently 50% full. Seven markets in the Middle East will open next weekend.
Overall in this setting, international audiences were out for family play and laughter, with Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and The Lost City seeing strong holds.
Sonic brought up another $19M in 57 markets – only 29% off last session and starts at #1 Poland and Malaysia (as well as India among Hollywood titles – local sensation KGF: Chapter 2 still leads there and we’ll update that shortly). The international Sonic 2 is coming now $142 million to the $287.8M global means the little blue beast will zoom past $300 million any day now.
Leading the charge for Sonic are the United Kingdom ($26.3 million), Mexico ($15.7M), France ($14.3 million), Australia ($13.1M) and Brazil ($8.9M). Sonic takes on the Fantastic Beasts in the Middle East next weekend. Japan is on deck in August.
Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum’s romcom adventure The Lost City has found another $17.1M in 58 stores, 27 of which are newly opened. This is another staggered release and is down just 21% from the last session. The offshore cume is $42.7M With $128.1M global.
Australia and the United Kingdom had particularly strong holds, down 16% and 17% to $6.8 million and $7.4 million, respectively. France was the session’s best opener at #3 with $2.1 million; Germany and Mexico debuted at $1.7 million a piece at #2 and #3 respectively. Upcoming are the next frame in Denmark and Japan on June 24th.
In the meantime, China is trying to stem a surge in Covid cases in Beijing and will conduct three rounds of mass testing from Monday, the Global Times reported. According to CNN, a city official told reporters today that the situation is “urgent and grim.” With Shanghai still on lockdown, it’s unclear whether Beijing will follow suit. Once the test results are available, it will provide a clearer picture of the overall situation and “further measures will follow accordingly,” a senior expert at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention told the GT.
This is not good news for Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys, which will be released in China on April 29th. However, the film is still doing good business in its sixth overseas weekend with a $5.9M Frame for an incredible 9% drop in this session. Along with opening #1 domestically, it has now reached $63.1M offshore, good for $87.1M global. In addition to China, Korea and Japan are also on deck.
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