December 14-16,
2001
Around
the World Round Up
by Kenan
Bresnan
With
only Eastern Europe, several Asian
territories, including China (late
January), and the opening of The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring, Harry Potter &
the Sorcerer's Stone is nearing
the end of its $40 million plus weekends.
But that didn't stop the boy wizard last
weekend as it slowed down to $45.3
million from 8.8 million admissions from
8,378 prints in a whopping 39 countries.
Thanks
to record-breaking debuts in Hungary and
South Korea, Harry's international
cume has blasted off to $313.16 million
and pushed its worldwide total past Shrek
for the year's highest worldwide
total with $570 million.
In South
Korea, the boy wizard smashed the
industry record with nearly $3.3 million
from just 186 sites. Hungary was no
different as Potter topped
the industry record with $359,000 on 34,
eclipsing Star Wars: Episode I --
The Phantom Menace.
In the
United Kingdom the film passed Bridget
Jones's Diary on the all-time
charts to become the biggest picture of
2001 and number five on the charts in
just its fifth lap. It has crossed $68
million thus far. The real news in
Blightly was Bollywood's blockbuster Kabhi
khushi kabhi gham, which grabbed
the new benchmark for the sub-continental
box office with $562,000 on 39 screens.
It was already a hit in India where it
had 100% attendance in over 99% of the
theaters in India and over $3 million on
its opening weekend. Kabhi could
be one of the few Bollywood films to
cross the $1 million mark on the American
shores.
In Latin
America, Disney ruled with Monsters,
Inc. The John Goodman/Billy
Crystal starrer garnished $3.2 million in
Mexico from 635 theaters to set a new
record for a Christmas animated release.
In Brazil it topped Shrek's debut
by 13% with $687,000 on 289.
In
Japan, despite four strong challengers,
the first installment of Harry
Potter still cruised with over
$52 million in the bank to date. Last
weekend it managed a steady $8.2 million
from 621 screens in lap three. The film
was challenged by Spy Game,
which grabbed $2.28 million, Shrek,
which took a good $2.1 million, Godzilla
Mothra King Gidora, which landed
at $1.9 million, and Sennen no
koi, which grabbed $1.2 million.
The
story was similar in Italy, where Lara
Croft: Tomb Raider, Il
principe e il pirate, and Spy
Game couldn't unseat Harry.
Harry has reached $10.5
million while the openers all fell under
$1.5 million for the weekend.
The only
other competition for Harry was
Thirteen Ghosts in
Australia, which could only manage the
fifth spot with $308,000 on 139.
Next
weekend Harry Potter & the
Sorcerer's Stone lands at
Indonesia, the Middle Eastern countries,
Croatia, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Cyprus,
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Monsters,
Inc. rushes into Bolivia and
Panama and will challenge Harry in
South Korea. Harry and Monsters,
Inc. should fall to The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring, which climbs into over 45%
of its market in its opening days. On the
United States day of release, December
19, the ring shines in Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, United
Kingdom, The Netherlands, Norway, South
Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela. On
the following day it jumps into Israel,
Malaysia, New Zealand (where much of the
film was filmed), Peru, and Singapore. On
December 21 the film climbs into Bolivia,
Panama, Portugal, and Turkey.
All the
movies mentioned above should have no
problem taking over their respective
markets. Especially in New Zealand The
Lord of the Rings should take an
enormous number. I would be surprised if
it didn't break the industry record held
there. In France it should cruise to over
$10 million. In Germany it could match Harry's
opening at around $12 million.
In the United Kingdom, the film should
benefit from its PG rating at around $11
million.
These are my predicted
foreign totals for the selected films:
The Lord of the
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:
$578 million
Harry Potter &
the Sorcerer's Stone: $577
million (I'm going out on a limb!)
Atlantis: The Lost
Empire: $78 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.
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FORECAST
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