International Top Five - Superman Lives Up to His Name Internationally
July 5, 2006
Superman Returns started its staggered international release schedule with a first place, $22.13 million opening on 1779 screens in 11 markets. Highlights include a $3.88 million Australian debut on 409 screens and a $3.79 million debut on 355 screens in South Korea, ($5.00 million including Thursday). In both markets the film finished first. The rest of the markets were decidedly smaller, but the film still cracked $1 million in the Philippines with $2.58 million on 81, (while bringign in 90% of the market), Taiwan with $1.58 million on 151 screens, India with $1.49 million 274, Thailand with $1.47 million on 204, and Singapore with $1.16 million on 73. The film has no major openings this weekend and will slip to second with the debut of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, but the two should battle for supremacy over the coming weeks.
Cars had its best showing on the international charts with a second place, $15.29 million weekend on 4324 screens in 30 markets for a total of $42.99 million so far. It's best opening of the weekend, and indeed its run so far, was Mexico where it set a record for a Pixar opening at $4.55 million on 425 screens while it also had a studio best in Venezuela with $280,000. On the other hand, while the film opened first in a number of other markets it was well below other Pixar pics. Markets like Japan at $3.39 million on 644 screens or Brazil at $800,000. To put that latter figure into perspective, Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties opened there a couple of weeks ago with $1.4 million. The film has already made enough to show a profit, but that won't be enough to satisfy lofty expectations.
Over the Hedge also saw growth thanks to key openings, pulling in $10.57 million on 1580 screens in 15 markets for a total of $38.68 million so far. Most of that came from the U.K. where it easily topped the market with $6.64 million on 504 screens, and this is with the U.K. team playing Portugal in the World Cup over the weekend. (On a side note, they got robbed. Terrible refereeing continues to plague the tournament.) The film was also impressive in Australia where it was down just 7% to $1.74 million on 345 screens for a total of $6.13 million after two weeks.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift climbed into the top five for the first time in its international run with $6.63 million on 1647 screens in 20 markets for a running tally of $24.59 million. The film topped the Russian marketplace with $1.83 million on 350 screens over the weekend and $2.43 million in total. It also performed well in Mexico, but had to settle for second place with $1.42 million on 295 screens.
Poseidon was the only film in the top five not to see growth this weekend as it fell from first to fifth with $5.68 million on 3584 screens in 48 markets for a total of $94.72 million. The film opened in Scandinavia over the weekend taking first place in three of the four markets including Norway at $149,000 on 30, Denmark at $110,000 on 47, and Finland at $70,000 on 30. On the other hand, the film managed only fourth place in Sweden with a mere $72,000 on 89 screens.
Filed under: International Box Office, Cars, Superman Returns, Over the Hedge, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Poseidon