International Top Five - Pirates Lucky Streak Continues

June 13, 2007

Weaker than expected competition helped Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End maintain its stranglehold on first place, despite losing more than 50% at the box office. Over the weekend the film added $50.70 million on 12,591 screens in 103 markets for a total of $495.16 million meaning it should crack $500 million internationally by this time this column in published while $600 million is still the target number. However, due to weaker than expected domestic numbers $1 billion worldwide is out of reach. The film hit $50 million in Japan over the weekend after earning $7.68 million on 842 screens, down just 20%. That was the film's biggest single market over the weekend, but its total there of $50.41 million is second place to the U.K.'s $66.22 million running tally. However, in that market the film is fading fast and Japan could eventually become At World's End's most lucrative market.

Few people were willing to bet Ocean's Thirteen would win the international box office race this weekend, but many thought it would be closer than it ended up. Granted, second place with $27.77 million on 3902 screens in 29 markets isn't bad, but it was much closer to third place Shrek the Third than first place At World's End. The film opened in first place in a trio of major markets scoring $5.94 million on 475 screens in the U.K., $3.10 million on 487 screens in Spain, and $2.17 million on 504 screens in Italy. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in Germany with $3.95 million on 686 screens. Next up for the film is Australia and South Korea this weekend and France the weekend after while it doesn't close out its international run till August.

Shrek the Third exploded this weekend growing to $25.08 million on 1671 screens in 21 markets for a total of $54.64 million. The film debuted in a couple major markets earning $5.67 million on 569 screens over the weekend and South Korea and $10.74 million in total while Australia phenomenal $8.54 million on 277 screens. The film has yet to open in most big markets, but that will change over the next couple of weeks as it debuts in France, Germany, Japan, U.K., Mexico, and Spain, all before the end of June.

Spider-Man 3 will start shedding markets soon as it fell to fourth with $6.26 million on 5975 screens in 71 markets for a total of $538.21 million. The film is in a virtual tie with The Da Vinci Code for 11th place on the all-time chart, while worldwide it is 13th, just ahead of Revenge of the Sith.

Zodiac barely hung onto a spot in the top five with $3.52 million on 1836 screens in 38 markets for a total of $32.19 million. For a film that cost $85 million to make, it has not earned nearly enough on the worldwide stage to show a profit any time soon.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Ocean's Thirteen, Zodiac