Globe Warms Up to Ice Age
April 5, 2006
Ice Age: The Meltdown was nearly as impressive during its international debut as it was domestically with a weekend haul of $47.37 million on 4605 screens in 29 markets. The film set records in a couple of markets, include Mexico with an outstanding $8.85 million on 1083 screens, which was more than 20 times more than the next highest debuting film in that market. Other record setting openings came in Argentina with $1.2 million on 134 screens, Venezuela with $531,000 on 80, Ecuador with $278,000 on 30. It also has huge openings in Russia with $7.6 million on 460 screens and in Spain with $6.47 million on 449. Probably its most impressive numbers came in the U.K. where the film brought in $4.1 million in previews alone. Look for the film to open huge there next weekend.
Next up was Basic Instinct 2 with $9.92 million on 3329 screens in 23 markets for a total of $10.13 million including a few early openings. This is probably more than the film will earn in total domestically. The film's best opening came in Italy where the film was less than $100,000 away from first place with $1.37 million on 384 screens while it also had a million dollar debut in South Korea with a reported $1.01 million on 174 screens over the weekend and $1.18 million in total. The film just missed that mark in Spain, ($982,000 on 331 screens) and Germany, ($886,000 on 414 screens); the film finished in second place in both markets. Other major markets include the U.K. where the film had to settle for sixth with $845,000 on 290 screens and Australia where it barely made the top ten with $253,000 on 184.
The Inside Man was pushed to third place by the stiff competition but it still managed $9.22 million on 1854 screens in 28 markets for a very early international total of $22.94 million. Its biggest opening came from Australia where the film took top spot with $1.35 million on 228 screens over the weekend and $1.74 million including last week's previews which I erroneously believed was its opening. Holdovers were generally impressive with the film down just 29% in Germany as it remained in first place with $1.55 million on 324 screens over the weekend and $4.33 million in total while in the U.K. is wasn't as tight down 38% to $1.94 million on 356 screen, which was good enough for another first place finish and $6.59 million in total.
Fourth place went to La Doublure, a.k.a. The Doublure. The a French film opened in first place in its native market with $7.27 million on 720 screens. The film also earned a pair of second place debuts in Belgium with $303,000 on 33 screens over the weekend and $322,000 in total and in Switzerland with $187,000 on 20 screens over the weekend and $206,000 in total. Add in up and the film made $7.79 million on 773 screens in 3 markets.
The final film in the top five was V for Vendetta, which was down just 3% to $4.97 million on 2018 screens in 30 markets for a three-week total of $23.27 million. The film's best opening came in Australia where it failed to take top spot with $1.19 million on 202 screens while it debut in third place in Holland with $291,000 on 46 screens and fourth in Belgium with $220,000 on 30. (The latter two include previews.) Meanwhile, in the U.K. it was down 53% during its third weekend of release with $502,000 on 277 screens for a total of $5.32 million so far; this is hardly the level anticipated by the studio and nowhere near the level of an event picture like so many predicted.
Filed under: International Box Office, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Inside Man, V for Vendetta, Basic Instinct 2