International Top of the Chart: Summer Starts Early

May 5, 2010

Summer blockbuster season doesn't start till Friday, at least domestically. Thanks to the May Day celebration, it began this past weekend in many international markets. The May Day celebration also means that our box office numbers are still studio estimates in many cases, but we do know which film won. That film was Iron Man 2, which earned $100.2 million on 6,764 screens in 53 markets.

This film's best market was the U.K. where it pulled in $11.68 million on 521 screens, while it earned a reported $10.8 million on 855 screens in South Korea. In Australia and France it had nearly identical openings with $8.80 million 473 screens in the former and $8.78 million on 722 in the latter. Russia saw the film earn $8.2 million on 650 screens while it was able to pull in $7.13 million on 906 screens in Mexico. In Brazil, it generated $5.2 million on 350 screens. It was a little more muted in Italy with $4.66 million on 581 screens, while in Spain it had to settle for second place with $3.51 million on 547 screens. However, Spain was the only market where it didn't win the weekend race.

In most markets, Iron Man 2 saw impressive growth over its predecessor, including 49% in the U.K., 52% in Australia, 79% in South Korea, 89% in Russia. Overall, it was ahead of the original's openings in these markets by 26%, which bodes well for the film's debut this weekend.

As for the rest of the international marketplace, we will get to the second best box office performer and the rest of the multi-million dollar films this weekend, as we enter our summer schedule on the International Box Office chart.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Iron Man 2