International Top Five - Lucky Number Seven for Pirates

August 23, 2006

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is starting to shed screens and that was part of the reason it fell 43% this weekend, however, it still earned more than the next two films combined while crossing the $500 million milestone. Over the weekend it added $24.82 million on 7014 screens in 51 markets to its international total of $521.46 million while its worldwide total hit $922.72 million. This is the seventh week in a row that the film has topped the international charts tying the previous record set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl back in 2003. On the all-time international charts, the film is now in 12th place all-time, just a few million behind Finding Nemo and is now fifth place Worldwide. Where does it go from here? It has yet to open in Italy and by the time it does it could reach $1 billion in total ticket sales, but odds are Return of the King's second place is safe.

Miami Vice opened in nearly a dozen more markets lifting the film into second place with $11.65 million on 2564 screens in 31 markets for a total of $35.71 million. Its best market of the weekend was France where it opened with $5.1 million on 687 while it also did well in several nearby markets. This includes a second place opening in Belgium where the film earned $667,000 on 55 screens over the weekend and $732,000 in total as well as Holland where it also finished second place with $359,000 on 36 screens over the weekend and $398,000 in total. Meanwhile in Asia the film opened in two markets earning $1.7 million on 219 screens in South Korea and $213,000 on 27 in Hong Kong.

Garfield's A Tail of Two Kitties opened first in a couple of major markets, but that wasn't enough to keep it in second place as it slipped to third with $10.63 million on 4618 screens in 33 markets for a total of $63.28 million internationally. The film's biggest opening was in Russia where it earned $1.69 million on 349 screens over the weekend and $2.15 million in total. It also topped the Italian box office with $1.09 million on 312 screens and including last week's previews the film has earned $1.42 million there while it had to settle for third place in Belgium with $593,000 on 80 screens over the weekend and $1.00 million in total. Perhaps its most impressive market was China where the film was flat during its sophomore stint adding $1.1 million on 700 screens to its total of $4.4 million. The record for a foreign film in that market is under $15 million, making this run even more amazing.

Superman Returns returned to the top five thanks to openings in Japan and Germany, but more the former than the latter. In Japan the film finished first with $3.20 million on 505 screens while in Germany it had to settle for second with $1.92 million on 618 screens. Adding in holdovers and the film made $7.33 million on 3391 screens in 53 markets for a total of $165.32 million.

Gwoemul, a.k.a. The Host, fell to fifth place with week with $5.44 million on 470 screens in its native South Korea lifting its total there to $68.83 million. That's already Titanic-like numbers, and it is still in first place by a 3:1 margin.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Superman Returns, Miami Vice, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties