International Top Five - Eragon Gets an Early Christmas Gift

December 29, 2006

Eragon remained in first place on the international charts with $21.9 million on 6,300 screens 52 markets for a total of $63.9 million. While the film has won the weekend race two weekends in a row, its running tally is far below studio expectations given its $100 million budget. The film opened in first place in France, ($4.4 million on 754 screens), and Belgium ($579,000 on 90), but had to settle for second place in Italy, ($2.1 million from 477). Holdovers were mixed; the film rose to first place in Russia with $1.1 million on 490 screens, but that was still nearly 50% lower than last weekend. It held on better in the U.K. down 37% to $1.64 million, but that was barely enough for fifth place and lifted its total to just $5.94 million.

Casino Royale has officially become the highest grossing Bond film of all time. Over the weekend the film earned $15.4 million on 6,300 screens in 64 markets for a total of $305.3 million internationally. It became just the 42nd film to reach that milestone and including Christmas day is roughly $3 million from overtaking Terminator 2: Judgement Day and entering the top 40. Worldwide the film has $454 million compared to Die Another Day's $432 million and has a clear path to $500 million. There was only two new openings of note for the film and that was South Korea where it only managed fourth place with $3.8 million on 347 while in Hong Kong it took in $1.3 million at 105 for second place.

Happy Feet climbed to third with $13.1 million on 5,800 screens in 55 markets for a running tally of $80.0 million. The film saw 1% growth in the U.K. to $4.02 million on 475 screens for a total of $20.69 million. On the other hand, new openings were more mixed including a sixth place debut in South Korea with $1.2 million on 178 screens. It was better in Russia opening second with $1.1 million on 315 and in Hong Kong with $422,000 on 36, (placing unknown).

The Holiday slipped a spot to fourth with $11.0 million on 2,900 screens in 40 markets for a total of $46.8 million. The film opened in several midlevel markets in South East Asia, Latin America and Europe and had results that the studio described as very good, but official numbers were not released. Holdovers were also very good as the film remained in second place in the U.K. down just 36% to $2.07 million for a three-week total of $16.63 million while it was down just 26% in Germany to $1.7 million on 572 screens for a total of $5.5 million. One final note, last week I noted that the film bombed in its debut in Australia, but that was merely its first week of previews. It didn't officially open there till Boxing day so we won't have full numbers until next week.

Rounding out the top five was Arthur & the Invisibles with $8.3 million over the weekend for a total of $25 million. Almost all of that came from France, but numbers for individual markets were not released.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Happy Feet, Casino Royale, Eragon, The Holiday, Arthur et les Minimoys