International Box Office: The Wandering Earth goes Global

February 13, 2019

The Wandering Earth

The international box office lived up to its name with the top three films all being international films. The Wandering Earth dominated the box office with $179.80 million over the weekend of a total seven-day opening of $298.27 million. This is an outstanding debut, even when you consider the benefits of Chinese New Year at the box office.

Crazy Alien was next with $77.10 million over the weekend for a six-day debut of $214.88 million. It earned more before the weekend than The Wandering Earth did and did so during fewer days, but fell a lot faster during the weekend. This doesn’t bode well for its legs.

Likewise, Pegasus earned nearly $100 million before the weekend, while it earned $55.08 million over the weekend for a total debut of $154.72 million.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was pushed into fourth place, despite having some strong openings. It earned $39.9 million in 46 markets over the weekend for a running tally of $140.9 million. Its biggest opening was in France, where it made $7.29 million in 744 theaters, while it earned a nearly identical debut in Germany with $7.17 million in 665. Interestingly, the film had to settle for third place in Vietnam behind two local films, but still managed an opening weekend animation record with $2.80 million in 176 theaters.

Alita: Battle Angel started its international run a week before its domestic debut earning fifth place with $31.95 million in 11 markets. The film’s biggest market was South Korea, where it debuted in second place with $4.92 million on 1,043 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $10.86 million. Its ratio of weekend box office to total opening is small, but that’s because it debuted on Tuesday and not the usual Thursday. It connected with audiences in many Asian markets, including Taiwan ($4.8 million); Malaysia ($2.9 million); Hong Kong ($2.8 million); and Indonesia ($2.5 million). On the other hand, it struggled in the U.K. with just $4.14 million in 534 theaters. That’s equivalent to a little more than $20 million here.

Filed under: International Box Office, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Alita: Battle Angel, The Wandering Earth (流浪地球), Fei Chi Ren Sheng, Feng Kuang De Wai Xing Ren