May 25-27, 2001

Around the World Round Up
by Kenan Bresnan

Breaking records from France to Latin America to Asia, The Mummy Returns smashed into many smaller markets with outstanding results. It boosted its territory count by 24 totaling 45 already. On opening day in France an excellent $823,000 from 703 screens was its talley. Over the weekend Mummy totaled $3.3 million in France which should lead to a good $4.5-$5 million over the week. Remember there is no Memorial Day overseas, but the Brendan Fraser/Rachel Weisz headliner sure made it seem like there was.

Just across the border from France, Belgium made The Mummy Returns the best May opening ever with a $901,912 debut. That number also makes the film Universal's second biggest opening weekend there ever. Over 10,000 miles, away in Singapore, the viewer-approved picture easily took pole position with the third biggest opening weekend ever there, grossing $1.1 million. Next door, in The Philippines, Mummy captured the top spot as well, with a record breaking $1.1 million. That is the third highest opening weekend in history there. To put that into context, Gladiator only grossed $2 million in The Philippines.

In Latin America the critically-trashed film faired just as good grossing an phenomenal $2.8 milllion on 288 screens in Mexico capturing the top spot. Elsewhere in the tropics, The Mummy Returns took Peru's film industry's best opening ever. In Chile it had the second biggest opening ever and in Colombia, it took Universal's largest opening in history. In all debuting countries the action/adventure/horror pic grabbed the top spot. The Mummy Returns already has $69,651,432 in its sophmore session. The original Mummy almost doubled its domestic talley with an impressive $258 million internationally.

Making its international debut in Australia, the film's nationality, Moulin Rouge smashed into Down Under with the highest Australian film opening weekend in history, besting the original Crocodile Dundee. Dundee had held the record for more than 15 years. The Nicole Kidman/Ewan McGreggor starrer in total, took $1,899,340 on 252 screens for a very nice screen average of $7,537. It did have a boost from previews for a grand total of $1,942,990. This plays nicely for other international markets, as the United States already knows it will be a huge hit.

Also in Australia Joe Dirt made its international debut with a not-so-bad $545,172 from 170. The film also opened in the U.K., but numbers were not available. On an interesting note, Warren Miller's Ride took 14th place in Australia with one of the highest screen averages ever there taking in $29,113 from a single screen. Without Ride the Australian screen average for the Top 20 would be $1,491 instead of $2,872. A drop of 48%.

The only loser, internationally, was the fact that France had virtually no post-Cannes BO boost. It looks like the tremendous first quarter is slipping into memory. Cannes' second place finisher, La Pianiste (France's own), won't open until September 5th, which could cost the film greatly.

Next week the only films to get a big opening weekend grosser The Mummy Returns are Panama and Venezuela. In France Un Aller Simple and The Tailor of Panama are the only films that should open to pleasent numbers leaving The Mummy Returns a good chunk of the dough. In Australia Head Over Heels and Monkeybone are the only wide releasing films. The United Kingdom is the first to receive Disney's major U.S. BO opener Pearl Harbor along with The In Crowd and Monkeybone. The only movie running for a Top 10 spot in Germany is Rugrats in Paris: The Movie.

Obviously, as its previously shown, The Mummy Returns will grab the top spot as well as records in Panama and Venezuela. Mummy should also lead France again with a possible 25-30% drop (hopefully not more or the film could bomb). In the United Kingdom Pearl Harbor will steal the top spot from The Mummy Returns with a $8 million+ opening. Elsewhere the same films (most likely The Mummy Returns) should lead the major territories.

Check out the France Forecast