Pacifier Procures Pole Position

April 20, 2005

The Pacifier shot to the top of the international box office in part due to it's number one position in 14 of the 22 markets it is currently playing in, but mostly due to the lack of competition. The film led with $9.1 million on 1908 screens in 22 markets showing the international box office is in a slump just as bad as the domestic one. Its biggest single market was in Germany where the film managed first place with $2.2 million on 602 screens. The film also debuted in number in first place in Russia with $1.1 million on 157 screens, Austria with $469,000 on 91 screens, Thailand with $462,000 on 82, and Hong Kong and Malaysia, ($325,000 and $170,000 respectively.) However, its best performance continues to come from Australia where the film rose 18% this weekend to $1.33 million; the film has made $5.8 million of its $20 million international total in that one market alone.

The Interpreter came in a close second with $8.7 million on 1158 screens in 17 markets. A large chunk of that came from the film's first place, $2.99 million opening in the U.K. on 370 screens, if this result is indicative of the rest of its international run, then the film should finish with between $100 million and $125 million. The film was also the top drawer in Spain with $1.9 million and other midlevel markets, ($470,000 in Taiwan, $340,000 in Portugal and $160,000 in Norway.) However, the film had to settle for second place in Australia with $1.275 million and third in Sweden with $100,000.

Close behind was The Ring 2 with $8.3 million on 3365 screens in 51 markets for a running tally of 67 million. The film's best market was in Italy where the film remained in top spot with $1.35 million despite dropping 51% at the box office.

Robots reached a milestone this weekend hitting $200 million worldwide, just the third film of 2005 to do so. This weekend it added $6.8 million on 5300 screens to its $92.7 million international total. With no new releases this weekend the film had to rely on holdovers, holdovers like the U.K. where the film added $833,000 on 471 screens to its five-week total of $21.47 million in the market.

After a disappointing start, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous has been able to show stronger legs than expected, but that's little comfort at this point. This week it saw its fortunes rise, slightly, to $5.156 million from 3000 screens in 45 markets. It was helped out by its $1.255 million, first place finish in Mexico, an increase of 17% from the original, but has only brought in $39.3 million internationally and just over $80 million worldwide.


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Filed under: International Box Office, Robots, The Pacifier, The Ring Two, The Interpreter, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous