Island Still Leading International Destination

August 24, 2005

The Island again topped the international charts with a rather tepid $12.4 million on nearly 5000 screens in 44 markets over the weekend. With this week's haul the Sci-Fi flick has reached $84.8 million internationally, which is nearly $50 million more than it earned domestically, allowing it to top $100 million worldwide. This weekend the film opened in a couple of French speaking markets in Europe earning the number one spot in France with $3.4 million on 640 screens and $694,000 on 64 screens in Belgium. Holdovers were generally weak including a 45% tumble in both the U.K. to $1.37 million on 412 screens and Germany to $859,500 on 725. On the other hand, the film is still performing well in South Korea adding another $511,000 to its $20.47 million total in that single market, which would be like earning more than $300 million domestically given the relative size of the two markets.

It was a milestone weekend for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as the film topped $100 million internationally. It actually reached that mark during the midweek before adding an addition $9.5 million on 3500 screens in 37 markets to is $111.4 million running tally and that gave the film $304 million worldwide as of Sunday. On the downside, it will need to make about $100 million more to show a profit due to its immense production budget, but it could still get there, and if it doesn't it will surely earn enough on the home market to make up the difference. Without any major openings the film relied on holdovers for the bulk of its box office, holdovers like the U.K. where the film earned a fourth first place finish with $3 million on 524 for a $52.6 million running tally in that market alone, that's almost as much as War of the Worlds earned there. Other million dollar markets include Spain at $1.1 million on 309 screens and Germany with $1.0 million on 485.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened in Spain earning just over $5 million or about 50% of the total box office. Add in the $1.6 million it earned in France, $1.25 million in Germany, and various other smaller markets and the film earned an estimated $9 million over the weekend for a $217 million international total and $401 million worldwide. The film still has two major markets to open in, Japan and Italy, but it won't open there till December.

Herbie: Fully Loaded opened in Scandinavia over the weekend, including a $280,000, second place finish in Norway on 70 screens, ($360,000 including previews.) But it was strong holdovers in both France and the U.K. with $1.2 million and $900,000 respectively that represented a big chunk of the film's $6.25 million box office over the weekend. That helped push the film to $50.7 million internationally and $115 million worldwide.

Madagascar dropped by 33% during its second weekend in Japan with $1.8 million, a virtual tie with Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith for first place. It also topped $1 million in Germany on 861 screens for nearly $40 million in that one market. Overall the film made $5 million on 3,358 screens for the weekend and $266.2 million internationally, the third best total for the year.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Madagascar, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Herbie: Fully Loaded, The Island