Cool Reception

April 10, 2005

It was a slow week at the international box office, the slowest of the year, and without much activity at the box office hit there were little in the way of details published by the studios. Therefore this week's column is much shorter than usual. Leading the best of the rest was Be Cool with an estimated $5 million for a disappointing $12.7 million international tally. Its best single market was the U.K. where the film finished second with $2.2 million on 336 screens after an exclusive engagement last weekend. The film also did well in the Netherlands with $190,000 on 43 screens but really struggles in Germany opening in fifth place with just $930,000 on 321 screens, a result mirrored in Austria, (fifth place, $165,948.)

  • Million Dollar Baby lost a third of its box office during its second weekend in France dropping to $2,858,042 on 535 screens. The film had a similar result in Germany, down lost 36% to $490,000 on just 154 screens. Overall the film earned $4 million and is now sitting at $66 million internationally.
  • The studio was expecting big things of Valiant, but after struggling in the U.K. last week, the film could only manage $1,791,247 on a massive 657 screens in France. That's nearly the exact box office the film earned in its second weekend in the U.K. giving the film $3.6 million for the week and $8.0 million during its run.
  • The German film Barfuss, a.k.a. Barefoot, finished second in its debut in Germany with $1,861,013 on 425 screens. A good start, but not the monster starts some other German films have had.
  • Manuale d'amore finished first for the third weekend in a row in its native Italy and it did it despite dropping 55% to $1,771,926 on 418 screens. The film has now brought in $13,215,814 on
  • Aided by its $1,616,302, first place finish in Japan, National Treasure saw its international box office climb to $165.3 million while its worldwide total is now $335.8 million, the best in Nicolas Cage's career.
  • The Aviator had the worst week-to-week drop-off in the top ten in Japan at just 22%. Its sophomore box office of $1,212,418 raised its total in the market to $4,657,429, while the film has now earned $104 million internationally.
  • Shark Tale climbed into third place in Japan with $1,209,019, up 5% from last weekend. With $14,643,320 in the markets, the film now has $178 million internationally.
  • Howl's Moving Castle has now remained in the top ten in Japan for an amazing 20 weeks, this time adding $616,034 to its box office there, which has apparently shrunk to $175,401,096. (I assume it has to do with exchange rate fluctuations. The film also made $400,000 during its second weekend of release in Hong Kong, lifting its box office in the market to $2.2 million
  • Son of the Mask made its debut in Italy but barely made the top ten with just $360,000 on 200 screens, while in France the film plunged 61% to $427,094 on 386 screens.
  • Blade: Trinity opened in Norway with $90,000 on just 20 screens for the best per screen average in the market. Adding in the $450,000 in made in Spain and the film now has $70 million internationally and it will beat Blade 2's finally international box office of $72.66 million, the only question is whether it will do it before the film opens in Japan at the beginning of next month.
  • Holidays helped Pooh's Heffalump Movie has had a strange run so far, it's struggled in many major markets but has also been one of the biggest hits in others. This week was another example of the former has the film opened in ninth place in Germany with just $506,459 for the week on 452 screens. That's equivalent to a film opening with $6 million in 3000 theatres at the domestic box office. On the plus side, the film did beat its domestic total on the international scene $18.4 million to $18.0 million.
  • Assault on Precinct 13 landed in sixth place when it opened in Australia with $430,000 on 112 screens.
  • The Jacket made its international debut in Italy with $408,969 on 144 screens. Not a great start, but it could have been worse.
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in clinging tenaciously to tenth spot in Japan, this weekend adding $345,370 to its $2,283,881 total in the market. A couple more weeks like this and the film will push its international box office past its domestic total; the domestic total is currently $34.4 million to $33.5 million.
  • In Good Company lost 70% of its first week box office in Germany crashing to just $269,503 while in Austria the film dropped a mere 55% to $65,951.
  • Downfall made it all the way to ninth spot in its debut in the U.K. with $306,700 on just 49 screens. So far the film has made $70 million worldwide with most of that coming from Germany.
  • Boogeyman took third place in its debut in New Zealand with $100,000 while it lost more than half its Russian debut landing at ninth place with $150,000.
  • Garden State opened in Spain with $200,000 on just 55 screens, which is not a particularly strong start.
  • The Wedding Date's opening in Finland was nothing short of a disaster at just $24,000 on 12 screens, missing the top ten by a significant margin. Unless this film is a huge hit in the U.K. it won't be able to match its domestic box office internationally.

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    Filed under: International Box Office, National Treasure, Shark Tale, The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby, Be Cool, Blade: Trinity, Boogeyman, In Good Company, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Wedding Date, Garden State, Assault On Precinct 13, Valiant, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Son of the Mask, The Jacket, Der Untergang, Hauru no ugoku shiro