Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros/Legendary’s Godzilla Vs Kong is approaching the $400M global mark, as it topped $300M at the international box office this weekend. Adding $12.2M from 41 overseas markets (a good -49% hold), the monsters have cumed an estimated $309.7M offshore for $390.2M worldwide through Sunday. After overtaking Tenet as the No. 1 grossing movie of the pandemic era domestically last weekend, GVK has also now surpassed that film to boast the same honors for a Hollywood title internationally and globally.
In like-for-like overseas plays and at today’s exchange rates, GVK continues to track ahead of Kong: Skull Island (+7%), Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (+45%) and Godzilla (+96%). In China, the Adam Wingard-directed GVK has become the highest grossing pic of the Monsterverse. The cume there is now estimated at $177.1M through Sunday. In IMAX, GVK has hit $35M worldwide with China at $22M.
While it has dominated global play over the past few weeks, GVK this session ceded the top spot to Toho’s Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet. The 24th movie in the long-running anime franchise bowed in Japan and China as well as a handful of other markets, and our sources are estimating a $35M-$38M opening weekend. Numbers for Japan will be updated on Monday, but in the meantime, The Scarlet Bullet was No. 1 in China with an estimated RMB 109.6M ($16.8M). The film is carrying an 8.6 on Maoyan, but a lower 6.1 from reviews site Douban.
Following the recent success of Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train (which releases in North America next Friday), Japan has been on a hot streak of late, notably with IMAX screens. The Japan IMAX opening on The Scarlet Bullet was $1.2M from 38 screens for a $32K per-screen average. This is the 3rd best debut for IMAX in the market during the pandemic era and the 4th best for a local title ever. It is further the 8th biggest IMAX debut of all time in the market, overtaking Rogue One and The Force Awakens. This despite emergency measures enacted in some areas last weekend owing to Covid, and Osaka seeing spikes in the past several days.
Directed by Tomoka Nagaoka, the latest story of the boy detective was originally due to be released in April 2020, but was delayed by the pandemic. Up to 2020, a new Detective Conan movie had been released every year. The last was Detective Conan: The Fist Of Blue Sapphire which grossed nearly $90M in the home market.
Elsewhere, WB/New Line’s Mortal Kombat was game for $5.7M from 6,128 screens in 28 offshore markets. After its debut last session, the international box office cume is now $19.2M. Russia led play again, adding $1.9M and landing No. 2 behind the start of Chernobyl. It’s still tracking ahead of GVK and has a $9.6M cume so far. Mexico debuted this session with $725K at No. 2, followed by No. 1 starts in Indonesia ($666K) and Spain ($578K). Thailand held No. 1 in the sophomore session and has grossed $862K to date. Australia, as well as a number of smaller markets, will release next weekend.
Meanwhile, Sony’s Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway keeps hopping along in Australia, regaining the No. 1 spot in its 4th session with $2.2M. The gross there is now $13.5M, with good word of mouth and midweek business amid holidays. The full weekend, which reflects early release versus the rest of the world, was $2.4M for an offshore cume of $14.7M.
In notable local performances, Taiwan romantic drama Man In Love, a remake of the 2014 Korean film, has held the top spot for three weeks in a row in the market. The local cume is $8.6M on the Sony-distributed title. This is the biggest Taiwanese film released during the pandemic.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Tom & Jerry (WB): $2.3M intl weekend; $62.8M intl cume/$105.4M global
Nobody (UNI): $1.38M intl weekend (13 markets); $15.5M intl cume/$34.5M global
Promising Young Woman (UNI): $343K intl weekend (15 UPI markets); $1.5M intl cume/$7.8M global
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