WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 6, 2024
A film's gross for the last seven days is followed by its total worldwide gross.
1. Joker: Folie à Deux–$119m worldwide debut
2. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–$113m ww debut
3. Bureau749–$50m ww
4. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–$48m ww debut
5. The Wild Robot–$47m / $100m ww
6. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$30m / $403m ww
7. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–$28m ww debut
8. Transformers One–$25m / $97m ww
9. High Forces–$25m ww debut
10. Devara: Part 1–$11m /$44m ww
11. Speak No Evil–$9m / $67m ww
12. Deadpool & Wolverine–$8m / $1.329b ww
13. Despicable Me 4–$5m / $958m ww
14. Alien: Romulus–$5m / $348m ww
15. White Bird–$5m ww debut
16. Inside Out 2–$4m / $1.691b ww
17. It Ends With Us–$4m / $345m ww
18. A Tapestry of a Legendary Land–$4m ww debut
19. Veteran 2 aka I, The Executioner–$3m / $50m ww
20. Megalopolis–$3m / $9m ww
21. New Happy Dad and Son 6: Shrunk–$3m ww debut
22. Give You A Candy–$3m ww debut
23. The Hutong Cowboy–$3m ww debut
24. Howl's Moving Castle–$2m / $240m ww
25. Blink Twice–$2m / $46m* (see notes below)
26. The Forge–$2m / $31m ww
27. Never Let Go–$2m / $13m ww
28. My Old Ass–$2m / $5m ww
29. Sam and Colby: The Legends of the Paranormal–$2m ww debut
30. Love in the Big City–$2m ww debut
31. Stree 2–$1m / $104m
32. Reagan–$1m / $29m ww
33. The Substance–$1m / $16m ww
34. Am I Racist?–$1m / $12m ww
Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's a good marker to indicate a big hit.
ANALYSIS
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is tearing it up...and Halloween is still 24 days away! Beetlejuice Beetlejuice should continue to have good legs through the end of October. I think $500m is a possibility and that's amazing for a sequel to a film that grossed $85m worldwide.
Of course the big news is Joker: Folie à Deux, which began with bad buzz as opening day approached. Then the people who saw it first really hated it. Someone suggested it might have opened better if they hadn't played at a festival first. Well, maybe a little, but that's beside the point. Critics and audiences found the film hugely disappointing. And not because it's a quasi-musical. Beetlejuice has several dance numbers and sends people home singing "Macarthur Park" so just leave any perceived problems out of it. (And Deadpool and Wolverine's best bit includes Madonna's "Like A Prayer." Just saying. Also, anyone second guessing Joker 2 and its $190m budget is crazy. The first made an extraordinary $1 billion worldwide, director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix deserved much more upfront (they certainly won't see it on the back end) and then Lady Gaga signed up to give the musical legitimacy. It was a reasonable bet.
The good news, however, is all about The Wild Robot. It held very nicely and has more in the bank than Transformers One, which opened a week earlier. On the other hand, everyone who suddenly decided not to see Joker 2 might give Transformers One another chance. Probably not, but I'm just hoping. I actually saw a double bill of The Wild Robot and Transformers One at my local drive-in. The Wild Robot was less annoying than I expected and low-key clever as a service robot lost on an island decides its task is to raise a baby goose and prepare it for its first migration. Oh, lessons were learned and lots of hugging happened, but they didn't come hard and fast until the finale. Otherwise quite enjoyable. Then my car radio wouldn't work for Transformers One so I still haven't seen that one.
In China, National Day kicked off a slew of big new movies and so far we have three clear winners. They include director Chen Kaige's Korean war sequel The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death, the sci-fi action film Bureau749 and the revenge drama Tiger Wolf Rabbit. Check out the notes for each film below for the inside scoop; The Volunteers in particular is an interesting one.
A friend asked me if Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis might become a cult hit, the immediate question studios ask themselves when a movie crashes and burns. I haven't seen it. But usually a future cult hit will have some remarkable or interesting aspect to it, something championed by an ardent few. I've seen nothing but critical dislike, even as some pan for gold and declare it nicely shot or that Aubrey Plaza triumphs. Not enough. And the few friends with arty taste who saw it really hated it and said it's not even enjoyably bad. Oh and the idea that Coppola was a misunderstood genius in the past is nonsense, ChatGPT trailer or no ChatGPT trailer . The Godfather was praised and won every award in sight, while dominating the box office. The Godfather Part II and The Conversation were both wildly acclaimed in 1974, with both nominated for Best Picture. They couldn't both win but in no way were they misunderstood. The Godfather Part II was a critical and commercial watershed while The Conversation was immediately acclaimed; its stock has only risen since then. And it was so modestly budgeted I think it counts as a box office winner, though nowhere near the success of The Godfather Part II. Finally, Apocalypse Now was certainly high drama, even before it was released and had reviews all over the map. But by and large it was praised, a box office smash and won the top prize at Cannes and received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Hardly scorned. (It lost to Kramer Vs. Kramer. The other nominees were All That Jazz, Breaking Away and Norma Rae. Really, the Academy couldn't go wrong that year.
China box office hit $5.1b for the year, while North American box office is at $6.2b (sure, cheat by including Canada, NATO!).
Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory.
NOTES
mb= a film's budget in millions of US dollars
1. Joker–a reported $190mb. This won't come close to $600m worldwide, so I'm afraid it's a flop.
2. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–a sequel to China's 2023's The Volunteers: To The War, which launched this trilogy about China's involvement in the Korean War (or "police action," if you accept the Orwellian description of the US government). The first film was a reported $85mb, so presumably the sequel is the same? Director Chen Kaige already made two films about just one battle in the Korean War: The Battle at Lake Changjin I and II. They were shot back-to-back and cost a reported $200mb. (I'm assuming that was the total cost for both films.) Together they grossed a massive $1.5 billion worldwide. No wonder they greenlit a three-quel! This time, they spent at least 13 months filming, so surely that means they shot the entire trilogy in one fell swoop. But I bet the budget has been cut in thirds, so it doesn't seem so big and the total is $240m or so for three films, which seems reasonable compared to $200mb for two films that proved such massive hits. But who the heck knows? I'm making a lot of guesses here. According to my Showbiz Sandbox notes from last year, The Volunteers: To The War topped out at about $120m worldwide. Needless to say, that's a stunning drop from the $900m the first in the Lake duology grossed. This one opened at $111m, so whew! Maybe there are more victories in the sequel? If nothing else, it's off to a better start.
3. Bureau 749–Chinese sci-fi film. From the trailer, it's the present/near-future and some sort of alien attack is taking place. That means Bureau 749 must spring into action, a military group of some sort that recruits a hot young guy who is an outcast because of his "deformities" (he has some scarring on his back) and yet will prove vital to fighting off the creatures somehow or other. The only English language review I saw was not kind.
4. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–a Chinese crime drama of sorts. Three people united by having lost a child (to kidnapping, maybe?) join together on a road trip for revenge.
5. The Wild Robot–$80mb. Ha! Based on prior films from DreamWorks Animation I guessed this film's budget was around $80mb. And Wikipedia now says its roughly $78mb. I rounded up $2m so I could be right on the dot (plus, the math is easier when tripling).
6. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–a reported $100mb and good audience response means this is a winner right off the bat. Hardly a slam dunk, by the way. The original came out almost 35 years ago and only grossed $78m worldwide. So the sequel cost more than the entire first film's worldwide gross! That's not a recipe for success, normally. But the original only cost $15mb to make and everyone knew it enjoyed a long afterlife, thanks to tv reruns, Halloween, the Broadway musical and so on. Still, gamble it was and the gamble paid off.
7. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–a new Jackie Chan comedy in which he rescues a (CGI-generated) panda. Hilarity and heartwarming moments ensue in this family oriented action comedy. The English language title is officially Panda Plan. But the original Chinese title translates literally as Project Panda. Somebody probably made good money advising that unnecessary title change.
8. Transformers One–a reported $75mb per the trades, though Animation Magazine has a nice feature with the director and producer and offers up $147m for the budget, which is interestingly specific. So, there's that.
9. High Forces–it's Die Hard in a plane! Sort of. (Remember when every action film was Die Hard in...? Those were the days.) In this Hong Kong action film Andy Lau stars as a cop who accidentally blinded his daughter when stopping a jewel robbery. His marriage ends and he quits the force to work as a security expert. Years later, Lau boards the ultra-luxury Airbus A380, only to see his wife and daughter on board Hijackers take off the plane and start killing off passengers in economy (Man, you really should have upgraded.) Lau takes them on, with his blind daughter somehow secretly providing him intel to defeat the baddies. If it's set during Christmas time, I'll say Yipee-kiyay!
10. Devara: Part 1 ($33mb; Indian-Telugu) begins with threat to major cricket match in 1996. Then has an elaborate flashback story about Devara, who vows to stop smuggling on the Red Seas and kills any villager who tries to continue the practice. I've no idea how this ties into the threat against the cricket match but maybe Part 2 will explain all. Stars N.T. Rama Rao Jr. in multiple roles.
11. Speak No Evil–James McAvoy stars in a horror film costing a reported $15mb. Horror travels well, McAvoy is a draw, the film grossed more than its budget on opening week. Winner!
12. Deadpool & Wolverine– a $200mb means it's still a big winner.
13. Despicable Me 4–$100mb, though by now Steve Carell & Co. must be getting serious bumps
14. Alien: Romulus–a reported $80mb
15. White Bird–A reported $20mb. It's a sequel/prequel to the 2017 film Wonder. Here a teen (from the first film) tells his awesome grandma (Helen Mirren) that he feels pressured to fit in at his new school and not cause waves. In response, she tells him about her childhood when fleeing the Holocaust. So it's a teaching moment!
16. Inside Out 2–$200mb. With $1.666b, it passes 2019's The Lion King to be the highest grossing animated film of all time.
17. It Ends With Us–a $25mb reported budget.
21. New Happy Dad and Son 6: Shrunk–the latest in a string of low budget animated Chinese films, this one with a Honey, I Shrunk The Kids angle. Since the second in the series only grossed $12m and they've made four more, I assume it's extremely low-budgeted.
22. Give You A Candy–Chinese film I'm unable to get any info on.
23. The Hutong Cowboy–A Chinese comedy about an older taxi driver humiliated at his son's wedding. But he somehow becomes an online influencer and his life improves in every way that matters. Plus he wears a cowboy hat.
24. Howl's Moving Castle–($24mb) Grossed $236m prior to latest re-release in 2024.
26. The Forge–this faith-based film did better in its second week? Success! Reported $5mb.
27. Never Let Go–$20mb. A survivalist horror film. Momma (Halle Berry) tells her two kids The Evil has taken over the world and they must stay in an isolated cabin on their own. She's lying about the world being over, but The Evil is real. Boo! Let me give it another week to see the hold, but it's likely this will be a winner.
28. My Old Ass–Sundance film written and directed by Megan Park. An 18 year old girl named Elliott is on the cusp of college, exploring her sexuality and some psychedelics when she's visited by Older Elliott, herself from the future. Older Elliott tries to warn younger Elliott off certain things, but all she'll say is avoid a boy named Chad. The next day, Elliott meets Chad.
29. Sam and Colby: The Legends of the Paranormal–YouTubers who "investigate" the paranormal take their schtick to the big screen with this documentary.
30. Love in the Big City–Korean romantic comedy about two young people falling in love...in a big city.
31. Stree 2–the reported budget varies from $6m to $15m, but with $81m so far, this Hindi supernatural comedy is a hit.
32. Reagan–$25mb for adoring biopic of the President, which is narrated by two former KGB agents!
33. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback.
THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED
This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office.
ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart
The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever, depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend and focusing on new releases?
How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic info.
First, I list box office on every film we can from around the world. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here if we get info on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. That's followed by notes where I give info on every movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can.
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