International Box Office: 50 Shades a Worldwide Phenomenon
February 19, 2015
Fifty Shades of Grey dominated the international box office with an opening weekend of $158 million in 58 markets over the weekend for a total opening of $173.56 million. Worldwide, the film took $258.73 million during its opening weekend, which puts it just behind Taken 3 for the year. It became the biggest hit shortly after the weekend ended. The film's biggest market was in the U.K., where it made $20.90 million in 586 theaters. This is better than it opened with here, relative to the size of the two markets, so we can blame the U.K. for the success of this film. It also did incredibly well in Germany ($15.2 million on 741 screens); France ($12 million on 785); and Russia ($10.68 million on 1,105). Obviously the film is going to be turned into a franchise.
Somewhere Only We Know opened in second place with $30 million in 4 markets over the weekend for a total opening of $43 million. This includes a first place, $37.91 million opening in its native China, but this was for a six-day opening.
Kingsman: The Secret Service rose from eighth place to third place with $23.1 million in 38 markets for a three-week total of $43.8 million. Its biggest opening came in South Korea, where it earned second place with $4.16 million on 706 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.32 million. It earned third place with $3.32 million on 1,770 screens in Russia. As far as holdovers go, the film added $2.48 million in the UK from 509 screens to its running tally, which now sits at $16.79 million.
Jupiter Ascending fell from first to fourth with $15.6 million in 65 markets for a two-week total of $58.9 million. Any chance it had of breaking even any time soon just ended.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water rounded out the top five with $13.5 million in 29 markets for a three-week total of $46.3 million. Its biggest market of the weekend was Russia, where it opened in second place with $3.41 million on 1,355 screens. The film has likely made enough worldwide to cover its production budget, so it only needs to cover its P&A budget. If it can make it to $100 million internationally, then that won't be an issue.
Big Hero 6 fell to sixth with $9.2 million in 31 markets for a total of $301.8 million internationally and $521.3 million worldwide after nearly four months of release. The film opened in France with a total opening of $3.1 million. Its final market is China. It has already broken even, so whatever it makes in China will be pure gravy.
Taken 3 fell to seventh place with $7.1 million in 50 markets for totals of $192.2 million internationally and $279.0 million worldwide. It is just below average for the franchise, but not by much. The film did open in Italy over the weekend with $952,000 on 266 screens earning third place in the process.
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb slipped a spot to eighth place with $6.7 million in 23 markets for two-week totals of $223.3 million internationally and $334.3 million worldwide. It is well below its franchise average, but it still made enough to break even before its home market run.
Detective K The Labour's Daughter or Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island, opened in first place in its native South Korea with $5.29 million on 811 screens over the weekend for a total of $6.87 million.
Penguins of Madagascar returned to the international chart in tenth place with $4.2 million in 21 markets for totals of $267.2 million internationally and $349.6 million worldwide. This is much less than expected, but still enough that it will break even sometime on the home market.
There's one other film to talk about: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1. The film is currently playing in China and has earned $31.92 million over eight days of previews. Perhaps I should say "previews". I'm not sure if they are true previews, or if they are just trying to cram more than two weeks of box office numbers into its opening weekend to make it look better.
Filed under: International Box Office, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, Penguins of Madagascar, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Jupiter Ascending, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Big Hero 6, Fifty Shades of Grey, Taken 3, Night at the Museum, Taken