International Round Up: Box Office Suffers a Setback without Major New Releases

July 8, 2020

Innocence

In sharp contrast to the US, which is facing frightening increases in confirmed COVID-19 cases, and seems far away from returning to normal, the international theatrical market has slowly been improving over the past few weeks. However, it still remains dependent on major releases in South Korea to maintain forward momentum overall. Unfortunately, with no new releases, #Alive was still the biggest movie of the weekend in Korea, and the other international markets weren’t able to make up the shortfall. There are some encouraging signs from Australia and Germany, though, and several other countries are beginning to open up more as their case counts decline.

#Alive led the way in South Korea, and worldwide, with $1.93 million on 1,508 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $10.93 million. This is a very sharp decline from its $5.22 million opening Friday-Sunday, but that’s not uncommon for a horror film in South Korea, so there’s no reason to panic. The lack of a new release pushed the top ten down 59% to $3.4 million over the weekend.

Likewise, lack of major releases hurt France, as it dipped 7% to just under $4 million. Furthermore, the box office could double next week and then double again and it would still be below where it was this weekend last year, so the country still has a long way to go.

There were some markets that showed explosive growth this past weekend, at least relative to their very weak totals recently. Australia, for example, rose 477% from last weekend thanks to a burst of new openings. Granted, less than 200 theaters are open in the market, but the top ten still managed $1.01 million over the weekend. The market was led by $229,000 from The Personal History of David Copperfield, which was playing on just over 200 screens during its opening there.

Germany more than tripled last week’s results with $1.04 million from the top ten, buoyed by three new releases in the market. Meine Freundin Conni, a local animated flick, earned first place with $283,000 in 340 theaters, putting it ahead of Takeover with $188,000 in 288 theaters and Undine with $139,000 in 120.

Norway doubled its haul by selling just over 50,000 tickets over the weekend. Meanwhile, Spain was up 65% to $472,000 and New Zealand grew by 25% to $361,000. Italy also grew, albeit by just around 5% to $80,000.

On the other hand, there were some major markets that saw declines. Japan was down 35% to $978,000 in approximately 350 theaters. Hong Kong fell 23% to $958,000, while Taiwan dropped 12% to $430,000. There were some new entries in the mix, including Beyond The Dream, which led the way in its native Hong Kong with $303,000 in 59 theaters.

Filed under: International Box Office, Undine, Meine Freundin Conni — Geheimnis um Kater Mau, Takeover, #salaissda