International Top Five - Box Office Hits a Sour Note
March 14, 2007
It was a soft weekend in international markets, with no film topping $10 million.
Music and Lyrics was the closest, pulling in $9.67 million on 2,542 screens in 26 markets for a total of $44.45 million, which is just ahead of its domestic total so far.
Its biggest opening of the weekend came in Germany where it placed first with $3.12 million on 606 screens but it also placed first in Austria ($511,000 on 92 screens), and The Netherlands ($494,000 on 95 screens over the weekend and $637,000 in total).
The film wasn't as strong in Mexico where it made $678,000 on 319 screens, which was a distant second to a local hit, Ninas Mal.
Holdovers were led by South Korea, where is actually grew by 4% to $1.29 million on 136 screens for a two-week total of $3.96 million.
It was a close race for first as Norbit finished within half a million with $9.27 million on 1,987 screens in 18 markets for an international total of $19.31 million.
This was thanks to two openings in major markets.
In the U.K., it finally knocked Hot Fuzz out of top spot as it took in $3.79 million on 368 screens.
Meanwhile, the film had to settle for second place in Germany $2.37 million on 544 screens.
Ghost Rider fell from first to third with $9.20 million on 3686 screens in 54 markets for a total of $76.50 million.
The film had very few openings but did score first place in Hong Kong with $458,000 on 37 screens and in Portugal with $225,000 on 41.
Holdovers were mixed as the film was down 53% to $1.68 million on 342 screens for a total of $6.42 million.
Ho Voglia Di Te was the clear winner at the Italian box office, scoring first place with $8.21 million on 575 screens.
This was more than four times Saw III, its nearest competitor.
300 opened in fifth place with $6.15 million on just 395 screens in 7 markets.
More than half that came in Greece where the film took in $3.1 million from 112 screens, which is a record for the market, beating Dead Man's Chest.
The film also opened in a number of smaller Southeast Asian markets but was hampered by restrictive ratings.
It still managed $1.5 million on 91 screens in Taiwan, $733,000 on 49 in the Philippines, $646,000 on 29 in Singapore and $430,000 on 56 in Malaysia.
The film opens in South Korea this weekend and a series of major markets the weekend after, and should be a strong player on the international charts for a while.
Filed under: International Box Office, Ghost Rider, Norbit, Music and Lyrics, 300