International Top Five - Bond Bursts Out on top of Box Office

November 23, 2006

Casino Royale dominated the weekend box office earning $42.2 million on 3,063 screens in 27 markets, only one of them a true major markets. The film's biggest was the U.K., no surprise there, but the magnitude of the opening caught a lot of people off guard. Its weekend total of $21.55 million on 505 screens was the third biggest opening of all time behind just Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Add in Thursday and the film earned $25.33 million, roughly 47% more than the previous best opening for a Bond film in the market, and Goldeneye had 5 days to earn its $17.2 million. The second biggest market was Russia where the film took in $4.55 million on 540 screens, which was more than four times the nearesst competition and the highest opening ever for a non-Russian film there. It had a similar result in Indian earning $3.2 million on an unprecedented 427 screens beating Spider-man 2's record for a non-Indian film by 87%. Other million dollar markets include Greece with $1.34 million on 111 screens, Thailand with $1.1 million on 154 and Taiwan with $1 million on 116. The film opens in most of the rest of Europe next weekend and should have no trouble remaining on top of the charts.

By expanding into markets where Casino Royale has yet to open in, Borat was able to remain mostly flat adding $13.9 million on 1900 screens in 25 markets for a total of $63.6 million. Openings include a first place, $2.1 million debut on 269 screens in France while it had to settle for fifth place in Spain with $1.04 million on 288. Its best market overall was the U.K. where it was down 44% to $4.79 million on 452 screens over the weekend and $35.43 million in total while it climbed into first place in Germany with $2.31 million on 410 screens for a three-week total of $9.41 million.

The Departed was well back in third place with $6.9 million on 2,337 screens in 37 markets for a total of $69.4 million internationally. The film opened in first place in Argentina with $354,000 on 55 screens and in New Zealand with $280,000 on 63 while it earned second place in Mexico with $903,000 on 291. Its biggest market of the weekend was Spain where it dipped just 20% to $1.08 million on 355 screens for a four-week total of $9.19 million.

The Devil Wears Prada is one week from crossing $300 million worldwide after adding $6.2 million on 3,000 screens in 39 markets to its international total of $172.3 million. The film managed second place in its opening in Japan with $1.65 million on 299 screens for a per theatre average of $5,534, which is just over the $5000 that usually separates the hits from the misses. The film also earned $1.03 million on 600 screens in Germany for a total of $20.95 million after six weeks of release.

The final film in the top five was Open Season $6 million on 3,855 screens in 51 markets for a total of $70.8 million internationally. The film had to rely on holdovers this weekend earning million dollar weekends in Spain, ($1.34 million on 400 screens), and Germany, ($1.34 million on 723). Next up for the film is Australia at the end of the month and Italy and Japan at the beginning of the next.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Casino Royale, The Departed, Borat, The Devil Wears Prada, Open Season