Sith's International Just as Strong as Domestic

May 25, 2005

As expected, Revenge of the Sith dominated the international box office this past weekend setting more than a few records alone the way. Since its debut on Thursday, the final film in the Star Wars saga raked in $144.7 million on 10,000 screens in 114 markets, breaking the previous record of $125.7 million held by Return of the King. Worldwide the film now was $303 million after just five days, also a record.

Records in individual countries were also broken with Revenge of the Sith setting single-day marks in Germany, Belgium, ($452,000 on 99 screens) Holland, Hungary, Puerto Rico and more. While its midweek release made setting weekend record much more difficult, the film sill managed that feat in Chile and some other, smaller markets.

It's best single market was the U.K. where the final opening with an astounding $26.8 million on 485 screens but also had 8-figure openings in France, ($22.3 million on 938 screens); Germany, ($17.9 million on 1,182); and Australia, ($10.4 million on 535.)

The list of known $1 million openings was even more extensive:

  • Spain: $9.9 million on 495 screens
  • Mexico: $6.6 million on 914 screens
  • Russia: $4.4 million on 370 screens
  • Italy: $4.3 million on 681 screens
  • China: $2.7 million on 317 screens
  • Sweden: $2.7 million on 130 screens
  • Brazil: $2.3 million
  • Denmark: $2.2 million
  • Holland: $1.9 million on 115 screens
  • Norway: $1.6 million
  • Poland: $1.6 million
  • New Zealand: $1.4 million on 75 screens.
  • Taiwan: $1.3 million
  • Hungary: $1.2 million
  • Thailand: $1.2 million
  • Hong Kong: $1.2 million on 83 screens
  • Puerto Rico: $1.1 million

In most of those individual markets Revenge of the Sith was second only to Return of the King's debut. In others it was beaten by other film's from the Lord of the Rings and / or the Harry Potter franchises. But still, that's very good company to be in. And compared to the other prequels, Revenge of the Sith saw growth of 50% to 100% in most markets, which in the end should propel the film into the top five worldwide, and it has a solid shot at the $1 billion mark.

The rest of the top five was all but ignored by moviegoers and studios alike, which means there's almost no details to report at the moment. Hopefully that will change by Sunday in time for the International Details column.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith