'Van Helsing' Has Widest Ever Release for Universal
by Kenan Bresnan
May 6, 2004

It's the first weekend of May and the newest sure-fire blockbuster is set to release.  Van Helsing kicks off the Summer season with the widest release ever for a Universal film.  The Hugh Jackman starrer debuts in 40 international territories this weekend.  The super-saturated release notably excludes Japan, which is currently set for September 11.

On this same weekend last year X-Men 2 had an unprecedented launch in 93 territories on 7,600 prints, grossing $69,270,300 for a $154,829,031 worldwide weekend total.  At the time, the start was the second biggest international opening weekend ever behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' $87.9m weekend.  However, the record was later broken by The Matrix Reloaded then The Matrix Revolutions then The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at $125.9m. "The one name they all fear" has three behemoths to take down, ironically like the three main villains in the film (Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolf Man).  However, it isn't likely Van Helsing will come too close.  Its 40 territories will hamper its success, at least on its opening weekend.  Without Japan and South Korea Van Helsing has little shot at claiming any total international weekend record.

The director, Stephen Sommers, has nonetheless already had excellent success for Universal with The Mummy franchise.  Each movie had a much higher international gross than domestically.  Although The Mummy grossed $155.4m in the States, it eclipsed that mark with a $260.5m international haul.  The sequel raked in $202m domestically, but the international tally was still high at $231m.  The best market for the two films was Germany, where the original took in $29,970,048 and the sequel $22,443,846.  Most assuredly Van Helsing will have a better international haul than its domestic total as well as have extremely high marks in Germany.

With the very kind currency exchange Van Helsing shouldn't have a problem crossing $150m when all is said and done and could easily gross north of $200m.

Here is the release dates for this upcoming weekend: