International Box Office: Spider-Man Snags First Place in Tight Race with $140.03 million

July 13, 2017

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming earned first place in one of the closest races I’ve seen. It pulled in $140.03 million on 24,287 screens in 71 markets for a worldwide opening of $257.06 million. Its biggest market was South Korea, where it earned $19.37 million on 1,965 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $25.94 million. It also cracked $10 million in both the U.K. ($12.11 million in 616 theaters) and Mexico ($11.72 million on 3,506 screens), while it came close to that mark in Brazil with $9.09 million on 1,302 screens. The film did amazing business in Asia, including earning $6.84 million on 1,092 screens in Indonesia and $6.46 million on 1,900 screens in India. The film has yet to open in a number of major markets, including France, Germany, China, and Japan and should top $800 million worldwide with ease before it is done, which is enough to break even before it reaches the home market. The real challenge is surpassing Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 for top spot on the worldwide chart for the summer. It is too soon to tell if it will get there for sure, but this is a great start.

Despicable Me 3 was right behind with $136.7 million on 18,523 screens in 62 markets for totals of $296.23 million internationally and $445.00 million worldwide. The film set a new record for biggest opening for an animated film in China with $65.38 million, including previews. Even if the film cost just over $100 million to advertise, it has made enough to break even. If it cost a lot more than $100 million to advertise, it still has debuts in South Korea, Japan, and other markets to make up the difference.

Transformers: The Last Knight tumbled again down to just $18.1 million in 47 markets for totals of $375.7 million internationally and $494.7 million worldwide. It fell to fourth place in China with $7.50 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $220.06 million. The film has yet to open in Brazil, Japan, and some other markets, so it isn’t done yet. However, at this pace, it will be the worst performing at the box office in the franchise and it will need help on the home market to break even.

The House That Never Dies II is a Chinese horror film, and yes, that is an unusual genre for a Chinese film. Chinese censorship laws make Chinese horror films hard to make. The film earned fourth place in China and fourth place internationally with $14.00 million over the weekend for a total opening of $19.5 million. This is likely close to what it cost to make, so this is a good start.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales rounded out the top five with $9.9 million in 45 markets for totals of $565.2 million internationally and $734.0 million worldwide. The film has $23.2 million in Japan after just two weeks of release. Japan is already the film’s sixth biggest international market behind the U.K. at $25.07 million and it will be third place by this time next week.

Filed under: International Box Office, Wonder Woman, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Despicable Me 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Transformers: The Last Knight, Jing Cheng 81 Hao 2, Transformers