Worldwide War

July 6, 2005

War of the Worlds made its worldwide debut on Wednesday bringing in $13.35 million on that day alone and $102.5 million on 8000 screens in 78 markets in its first five days. Compared to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds made almost 30% less over the same period, and nearly 20% lower than the earlier 5-day record of $125.7 million set by The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Its best single market was Japan where the film made $15.5 million on 765, but the U.K. was close behind with $15.2 million on 507 screens. War of the Worlds beat Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in a few markets, (Hong Kong, $1.7 million vs. $1.2 million) Taiwan, ($1.0 million vs. $500,000) and Russia, ($3.7 million vs. $3.2 million.) However, in many other major markets the film was far behind including Spain ($9.7 million vs. $7.7 million), Australia, ($10.4 million vs. $5.9 million), and Germany, ($17.8 million vs. $7.3 million.)

The rest of the top five was the exactly the same as last week, just one spot lower. Slipping to second was Batman Begins with $15.7 million pushing its international total past $100 million to $114.2 million. It's biggest market continues to be the United Kingdom where the film added $2.4 million to its $21.6 million total so far.

Madagascar is still relatively early in its run, but the film as already made $80.7 million internationally adding $13.2 million this week. Australia is now the biggest market in its run adding $2.0 million this weekend for a $14.2 million for its run, just ahead of Mexico, which has contributed $14.1 million. Next weekend the film opens in the U.K., Germany and other smaller markets and by that time the film will have reached $100 million internationally.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith managed to add another $7.5 million this week to its $122.4 million. Right now the film is in a lull between openings but it did earn $1.3 million in the U.K. over the weekend for a $20.4 million four-week total and just shy of $1.0 million in Australia for a $13.1 million. In a couple of weeks Mr. and Mrs. Smith will have a spat of openings in major markets like Germany and France while the film doesn't open in Italy till the end of the year.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith managed a fifth place finish with $3.0 million this weekend, not including the $4.96 million the film made during its preview in Japan. Internationally, Revenge of the Sith has brought in an incredible $379.4 million, which still places it behind Lost World: Jurassic Park. And worldwide the film has an astounding $745.0 million, which places it 18th on the charts between The Lion King and The Matrix Reloaded. This time next week we'll have a the opening weekend numbers in Japan, and that will give us a much better idea on how much more Revenge of the Sith should bring in.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Batman Begins, Madagascar, Mr. and Mrs. Smith