International Top Five - Forbidden Territory

April 30, 2008

The Forbidden Kingdom doubled its screen and market counts and that helped it finish in first place by a wide, wide margin. Overall the film earned $16.82 million on 1082 screens in 10 markets for a very early total of $24.70 million. Major openings include South Korea, where it placed first with $3.15 million on 439 screens over the weekend and $3.60 million in total, and Russia, where it also placed first with $1.27 million on 262 screens. It was obviously stronger in the former than the latter, however, the latter was more significant since it was the film's first major test outside of the Asian marketplace, which could be called its home. If it can duplicate its performance in similar major markets in Europe, then it will have little difficulty showing a profit before long.

Foregtting Sarah Marshall also shot up the charts going from 22nd place to 2nd place with $7.11 million on 995 screens in 9 markets for a total of $9.64 million. Almost all of the growth came from the U.K. where it debuted in first place with $4.25 million on 393 screens, while it remained in first place in Australia with $1.53 million on 255 screens over the weekend for a total of just under $4.00 million. On the other, it wasn't as strong in Russia where it placed fifth with $846,000 on 323 screens. It's next major opening doesn't come till June, while it continue to open in major markets throughout the summer. This means it should last on the charts for a while, but this will be the highest ranking it ever achieves.

21 had no major opens this week, but it did earn an estimated $250,000 in the United Arab Emirate and $145,000 in Venezuela during debuts there. Additionally, it managed $1.09 million on 348 screens during its third weekend in the U.K. for a total of $8.90 million there. Overall it brought in $6.15 million on 1786 screens in 27 markets for a total of $30.74 million internationally and $106.53 million worldwide.

Street Kings slipped a spot to fourth with $5.56 million on 2585 screens in 45 markets for a total of $20.04 million. It did manage to open in first place in Spain, but with an anemic $1.10 million on 300 screens, while it held first place in Mexico with an equally soft $570,000 on 301 screens over the weekend for a total of $1.77 million after two. Even with most of its major openings behind it, it should top its domestic total before it is done, but that is hardly a reason to celebrate at this point.

Rounding out the top five was Horton Hears A Who with $5.02 million on 4512 screens in 30 markets for a total of $125.92 million. There were no major openings for the film this weekend, but that changes next weekend as it opens in South Korea. After that, there's a long gap without any large openings before landing in Japan in July.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Horton Hears a Who, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Forbidden Kingdom, Street Kings, 21