March 1-3, 2002
Around
the World Round Up
by Kenan
Bresnan
I
apologize for my late report, but I've
been extremely busy this week.
Japan
regained its stature as the focus point
of the international box office as both The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring and Monsters, Inc. opened
there last week during a time when most
students are studying for their student
exams. Rings earned a
fantastic $6.8 million on 600 screens in
two days, which was incredibly lower than
its estimate from its Saturday numbers at
$11 million. I'm unsure why this
occurred, but Nippon Herald/Shochiku
isn't worried because it expects a
lengthy run as it did in the States. The
opening weekend numbers were much lower
than Harry Potter's $12.8
million, but Rings' strong
diversity of ages going to the film
suggests that lengthy run. The
distributor wants about $113 million by
the end of its run, but it would need
about $130 million to pass Potter
in the international total
gross.
Monsters,
Inc. shelled out a superb $4.4
million, which was a new record for a
non-Japanese animated feature. Its take
was 10% and 40% higher than BVI's
previous stablemates Dinosaur
and Toy Story 2, and
doubled the opening weekend figures of Shrek.
Meanwhile,
Ocean's Eleven crossed
the $200 million mark taking a weekend
gross of $15 million from 50 territories
for a grand total of $209.7 million. It
should easily pass The Mummy
Returns and Pearl Harbor
to become the third highest
international grosser of the year.
A
Beautiful Mind opened very
strongly in Germany with $1.4 million
from 349 screens in four days. It also
topped the charts in Australia on
previews alone with $967,000 on 280 just
over Black Hawk Down's $810,000.
The Russell Crowe starrer has $20 million
from 20 territories.
In
Russia, Ocean's Eleven opened
on 65 screens with a handsome $829,000,
second only to that market's biggest
opening, The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring.
Black
Hawk Down totaled $3.2 million
over the weekend debuting number one in
Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and South Africa
and holding nicely in New Zealand (-32%),
Mexico (-29%), and Chile (-21%). The
Sony-released film has an estimated
foreign cume of $29 million from 1,942
screens in 29 territories.
The
Shipping News didn't hold up to
its Australian numbers in France in
Spain. In France it debuted at the tenth
spot with a meager $294,476 on 165
screens. Also in France Ali outperformed
the rest of the field (with the exception
of Asterix et Obelix of
course with now has $64.6 million!) with
a splendid $2.6 million on 579.
Next
weekend A Beautiful Mind is
poised to lead Australia again as it
battles two newcomers to the
international court, Rollerball
and Waking Life along
with The Musketeer. Monsieur
Batignole could be the first
film to pass Asterix et Obelix
as the frontrunner at 463 screens, as it
is already leading in Paris. Also Nid
de Guepes (399), Shallow
Hal (275), John Q. (216),
and American Outlaws (10)
debut in France. Asterix &
Obelix should lead the field of
German films and Riding in Cars
With Boys in Germany. In the
United Kingdom We Were Soldiers takes
a look at international soil along with The
Shipping News and Hearts
in Atlantis.
A
Beautiful Mind should follow Black
Hawk Down's preview to opening
weekend rollout when it took $1 million
worth of previews the week before it
opened at $2 million. In France I expect Asterix
to lead again with $3.5 million
with Shallow Hal and John
Q. get $2 million and $1.8
million respectively for the week. In
Germany Asetrix & Obelix should
have no trouble leading the pack with
about $5-$7 million. And in the U.K. look
for We Were Soldiers to
top the charts with a healthy $4.5
million.
2001 DOMESTIC
RELEASED FILMS
Title
|
Current Total
|
| HARRY
POTTER & THE SORCERER'S STONE |
$622,681,377 |
| THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING |
$462,000,000 |
| PEARL HARBOR |
$251,982,156 |
| THE MUMMY RETURNS |
$227,453,023 |
| SHREK |
$214,356,916 |
| OCEAN'S ELEVEN |
$209,300,000 |
| BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY |
$208,096,411 |
| HANNIBAL |
$184,800,000 |
| JURASSIC PARK III |
$183,967,058 |
| PLANET OF THE APES |
$179,200,000 |
| A.I.: ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE |
$157,309,863 |
| LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER |
$143,300,000 |
| AMERICAN PIE 2 |
$140,052,337 |
| MONSTERS, INC. |
$132,000,000 |
| MOULIN ROUGE! |
$116,039,443 |
| RUSH HOUR 2 |
$114,319,160 |
| CATS & DOGS |
$107,300,361 |
| AMELIE |
$102,518,729 |
| ATLANTIS: THE LOST
EMPIRE |
$101,804,229 |
| CONTENDERS |
|
| VANILLA SKY |
$97,306,054 |
| THE OTHERS |
$92,089,370 |
| BLACK HAWK DOWN |
$29,000,000 |
| A BEAUTIFUL MIND |
$24,088,179 |
These are my
predicted foreign totals for the selected
films:
A Beautiful Mind:
$167 million
Monsters, Inc.:
$204 million
Black Hawk Down:
$141 million
Spy Game:
$112 million
Ocean's Eleven:
$205 million
The Lord of the
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:
$578 million
Harry Potter &
the Sorcerer's Stone: $624
million (I'm going out on a limb!)
Atlantis: The Lost
Empire: $105 million
The Princess
Diaries: $71 million
Shrek: $259
million
American Pie 2:
$161 million
The Others:
$126 million
*Numbers are changed
whenever a market produces unexpected
numbers.
|