Its Easy to Interpret These Numbers

April 27, 2005

The Interpreter climbed into top spot on the international with $12.6 million on 2,378 screens in 35 markets, nearly doubling its total international box office to $25.7 million. And while the film was number one overall, it only had a few number one openings; one such opening was in Germany where the film earned $2.0 million on 400 screens. Other number ones include Hong Kong, ($240,000 on 33) and Singapore, ($150,000 from 15.) The film also had a string of second place debuts in South Korea, ($790,000 on 90 behind Truth About Love, which stars Jennifer Love Hewitt), Brazil, ($560,000 on 120 behind Guess Who) and Austria, ($240,000 on 48 behind The Pacifier.) Holdovers were also impressing with the film staying in the premiere position in both the U.K. and Australia with $2.3 million and $1.1 million respectively. With openings that are good for this time of year and holdovers that are mostly stellar, this film should hit $100 million internationally and $200 million worldwide.

The Pacifier slipped to second with $9 million on 2400 screens in 22 markets for a $32 million running tally. Its biggest opening of the weekend came in Mexico where it storm theatres with $1.9 million on 360 screens, nearly tripling The Interpreter's second place opening. This isn't too surprising since family films do really well in Mexico. The film also won its head-to-head competition with The Interpreter in Austria, albeit by a much smaller margin $332,000 to $240,000. The film also finished first in Italy with $855,000 on 150 screens but it dropped to second in Germany with $1.5 million on 600 screens and in Australia with $925,000 on 220. In the end the film should have a run very similar to Garfield, a little lower than that film, but similar.

The rest of the top five were a testament to how poor the international box office is doing with three films in the top five that would have barely ranked the film in the top ten last week. The Ring 2 stuck around in third place with $3.9 million on 3864 screens in 52 markets for a $72.2 million internationally tally. Italy remains the film's biggest market this weekend pulling in $594,000 this weekend don 258 screens, down 62.4% from last weekend. The film has yet to open in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea and could hit $100 million internationally if it does well enough there.

Sahara managed fourth place with $3.7 million on 1038 screens in 5 markets for a $13 million international box office. The film opened in first place in Spain with $1.16 million on 216 screens, but this is probably not indicative of its potential elsewhere because Penelope Cruz would undoubtedly help the film's appeal in her native country. The film finished second in Italy, maybe, there are conflicting reports, best guess has it earning $725,000 from 195 screens. The film slipped to fifth in the U.K. with $1.1 million for the weekend and $7 million during its run, which is good, but not nearly good enough given its massive production budget.

Thanks to a soft drop-off and really, really weak competition, Hitch was able to bounce back into the top five again with $3.0 million on 2300 screens in 51 markets. The film has already earned $175.8 million and has a good shot at $200 million if things go well in Japan.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Hitch, The Pacifier, The Ring Two, The Interpreter, Sahara