International Box Office: Despicable Me Steals Crown from Spider-Man with $72.7 million

July 27, 2017

Dunkirk

Dunkirk debuted in first place on the international chart with $55.4 million in 46 markets for a worldwide debut of $105.9 million. Its biggest opening was in the U.K., no surprise there, where it earned $13.00 million in 638 theaters. Strangely, South Korea wasn’t far behind with $8.75 million on 1,245 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $10.40 million. On the other hand, the film struggled somewhat in France with $4.9 million. This isn’t a bad opening, but I was expecting more. Overall, it is doing about as well as Christopher Nolan’s previous film, Interstellar. If Dunkirk can merely match that movie's worldwide figure, then it will break even before it reaches the home market. Even if it doesn’t quite manage that total, anything above $500 million worldwide will produce a healthy profit for the studio.

Despicable Me 3 was pushed into second place with $50.5 million on 16,162 screens in 64 markets for totals of $518.88 million internationally and $732.5 million worldwide. The film opened in Japan over the weekend earning $6.5 million on 360 screens. This is actually better than Minions opened with in that market. Its biggest market overall was China, where it made $9.88 million on 6,590 screens over the weekend for a four-week total of $136.59 million.

Spider-Man: Homecoming landed in third place with $33.37 million on 14,441 screens in 81 markets for totals of $320.02 million internationally and $571.87 million worldwide. There was only one new market this weekend, Belgium, where it opened in third place with $876,000 on 146 screens.

Transformers: The Last Knight returned to the top five with $24.9 million in 62 markets for totals of $420.2 million internationally and $547.8 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in both Mexico and Brazil with $7.5 million and $4.4 million respectively. In fact, that was the record opening for the franchise. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in Argentina with $2.3 million. The film opens in Spain and Japan early in August, but that’s the end of its run. Even if the film makes another $100 million internationally, which is not a guarantee, it will still only make $650 million worldwide. That’s a far cry from the $1.10 billion the previous installment of the franchise made. If it does make $650 million worldwide, then it will be enough to cover its entire production budget, so it will break even. However, the franchise is no longer the money making behemoth it once was.

War for the Planet of the Apes fell to fifth place with $17.3 million in 63 markets for totals of $77.1 million internationally and $175.3 million worldwide. There were no major market openings this past weekend, which partially explains its sharp decline. However, it also didn’t have great legs in individual markets either, falling 63% in its second weekend in the U.K. to $3.52 million in 612 theaters over the weekend for a ten-day total of $16.43 million. The film isn’t done its international run yet, but if it continues to have poor legs, its not going to live up to the rebooted franchise average.

Filed under: International Box Office, War for the Planet of the Apes, Despicable Me 3, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Dunkirk, Transformers: The Last Knight, Planet of the Apes, Transformers, Christopher Nolan