International Round Up: The Eight Hundred Lights Up Chinese Theaters

August 27th, 2020

The international markets were dominated at the weekend by The Eight Hundred’s blockbuster release in China. It was expected to do well, but a a seven-day opening “weekend” of $113.4 million ($115.4 million including previews) is beyond expectations, given the 50% capacity restrictions in Chinese theaters. It is actually more than Hobbs & Shaw earned this time last year, and helped the box office more than triple compared to last week. Granted, Hobbs & Shaw only had four days at the box office and not seven, but this is still a spectacular opening.

Performance around the rest of the world was more mixed, but there are some hopeful signs as Tenet starts its long-anticipated rollout. More...

International Round Up: Harry Potter Puts a Spell on China, Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide

August 20th, 2020

The slow march to recovery at the box office continued in international markets at the weekend as theaters opened up and moviegoers continued to return. Progress is being slowed by the lack of new films, particularly from US studios, but catalog titles are filling the void. China took advantage of an opportunity to release a movie from the Harry Potter archive for the first time in the territory, and Australian film fans got a chance to enjoy some original Star Wars. Some local films are also doing well, partly thanks to the lack of competition.

Here’s a round-up of what’s playing around the world, and how markets are recovering. More...

International Round Up: Deliver Us from Box Office Doldrums

August 13th, 2020

South Korea had an explosive weekend with Deliver Us From Evil earning the best opening in that market since January. The film pulled in $10.59 million on 1,997 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $15.03 million. There is still some bad news in the market though. For instance, Steel Rain 2: Summit fell 70% from last weekend to $1.49 million on 1,016 screens for a total of $10.74 million so far. Peninsula fell a further 67% to $748,000 on 639 screens for a total of $27.08 million after four weeks of release. These are sharp declines, even for South Korea, which isn’t known for long legs. That said, they are not a disaster. Additionally, while the overall box office is only about half of what it was this weekend last year, there are still restrictions in seating capacity in theaters and the lack of depth are still factors, so it appears the box office is in shape to truly bounce back once the situation has returned to normal. More...