WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 13, 2024
A film's gross for the last seven days is followed by its total worldwide gross.
1. The Wild Robot–$48m / $148m worldwide total
2. Joker: Folie à Deux–$46m / $165m ww
3. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–$27m / $140m ww
4. Terrifier 3 -- $23m ww debut
5. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$17m / $420m ww
6. The Substance–$17m / $33m ww
7. Devara: Part 1–$15m /$59m ww
8. Transformers One–$14m / $111m ww
9. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–$11m / $59m ww
10. High Forces–$9m / $34m ww
11. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–$8m / $36m ww
12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- $7m / $1.031b ww
13. Speak No Evil – $6m / $73m ww
14. My Hero Academia: You're Next -- $5m / $30m ww
18. Despicable Me 4–$3m / $961m ww
19. Bureau749–$3m / $53m ww
20. Inside Out 2–$4m / $1.693b ww
21. Alien: Romulus–$2m / $350m ww
22. The Nightmare Before Christmas -- $2m / $105m ww
23. Veteran 2 aka I, The Executioner–$2m / $52m ww
24. The Forge–$2m / $33m ww
25. Never Let Go–$2m / $15m ww
26. Megalopolis–$2m / $11m ww
27. A Tapestry of a Legendary Land–$2m / $6m ww
28. Welcome to the Game/Bang Jia You Xi -- $2m ww debut
32. White Bird–$1m / $6m ww
33. Average Joe -- $1m ww debut
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 17 days away! Beetlejuice Beetlejuice should continue to have good legs through the end of October. I realize $500m is no longer a possibility; I'm just glad I didn't predict $600m like I almost did. But $450m or so is amazing since the original grossed just $85m worldwide.
Onto the bad news: audiences are ready to see new movies; they just don't want to see bad movies. This is nothing new, but fans are rejecting films that don't cut it in markets all over the world. In China, The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death opened big, grossing more than the first film in its entire run. Then the bottom fell out. Since three films were made at a cost of $240mb, they needed to gross $750m at least in order to be profitable. It ain't happening, so $400m or so with a max of $500m is the best they can hope for. That was a big roll of the dice and it fell flat. China's Bureau749 also collapsed, along with Jackie Chan's Panda Plan and numerous other minor titles. Only Tiger Wolf Rabbit and High Forces have a modest good story to tell. The best news in China? Harry Potter. They're releasing all eight films one a week or so and the first one scored an ok $7m, putting it #2 overall for the weekend.
In Korea, Veteran 2 aka I, The Executioner also collapsed mightily. In its opening week, the film grossed $50m. In week two? Just $2m. Now that's a collapse.
In India, Devara Part I is enjoying great word of mouth? Maybe? I've found no box office figures for it yet. The only news came via a social media post of the producers who insist the film crossed the 500 crore mark. If true, that would mean the film increased over last week, growing from $11m to $15m this week. That would mean the film has hit at least $59m. If it does have this building success, then the $100m needed to be a hit from box office alone is well in sight. If it falls off a cliff next week or real numbers aren't so favorable, then we'll know better. Time will tell. But there's no question the Indian market is exceptionally weighted towards a few hits and a lot of losers, which is not healthy.
Then we have North America, where Joker: Folie à Deux was soundly rejected by one and all. The backstabbing has commenced: director Todd Phillips refused to test screen with audiences; he wouldn't listen to anyone; hubris! Well, when you ignored everyone by making an R-rated nihilistic Joker and it became a worldwide sensation, would you listen to anyone else? And the studio was desperate for a sequel so of course they gave him the moon. Maybe this means they'll get his next film, which might just be another hit. Plus other creatives will respect them, assuming they strongly defend Phillips and the film, which they would if they were wise. The only person Phillips should have listened to was himself: when Joker proved a sensation, he insisted they had no plans for a sequel.
Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis is also a stunning flop. But is it? His films of the 21st century include Twixt ($1m worldwide gross), Tetro ($2.m) and Youth Without Youth ($2.6m). In the 1990s, The Rainmaker and Jack (w Robin Williams) both flopped. Even The Godfather Part III couldn't triple its $54m budget, though it came close. Only Bram Stoker's Dracula was an out and out hit, costing $40mb and grossing $216m worldwide. In the 1980s? Only The Outsiders managed to triple its $10mb by grossing $33m. (Peggy Sue Got Married did okay, too.) That's it. After his glorious run in the 1970s, Coppola has never enjoyed critical or commercial success on almost any film. Dracula is about it. Even adjusting for inflation, the only time Coppola had a comparable budget to Megalopolis was...Apocalypse Now. Of course, everyone in Hollywood knew this which is why they turned him down again and again. Beware of dream projects; they'll break your heart.
The good news remains The Wild Robot, which held nicely in the US and continues to open in new markets. It's likely to triple its budget and since the book is the first in a trilogy, you can expect a Wild Robot 2 and 3.
Oh and I went to see The Nightmare Before Christmas reissue. It grossed $2m this weekend and I'd argue one reason is their idiotic decision to reformat the film for 3-D. most screenings are in 3-D when everyone knows kids hate 3-D and the glasses are a pain and the film was not designed for 3-D in the first place. Ok, in the era when studios were foolishly convinced 3-D was the future I can see doing this. But why bother now? I'm sure it keeps some people away. I had to wait days for a convenient time to see it properly. The film from director Henry Selick remains a delight. It's even better than I remembered. The production design is wonderful, the vocal performances spot-on, the songs are great and while I wish the romance had a titch more screen time, the film is otherwise nigh on perfect. Stop-motion animation is such a treat because it's real. Yes, they're telling the story of Halloweentown. But they build it all by hand and humans move the characters frame by frame, giving everything an undeniable bit of randomness you don't get with some computer animation. It's one of those rare films that seemed set up for a sequel but didn't get it. Jack enters Christmastown via a tree trunk marked with a tree and we see trees marked with symbols for Thanksgiving and Easter and Valentine's Day and so on. Why Jack never ventured into another holiday (or maybe the child of his and Sally, so they must rescue the mischief-causing tyke) is beyond me. In fact, kid enters a new holiday, Jack goes to rescue him and messes things up more...and then the indomitable Sally goes and rescues them both. Voila! Plus, why is there no stage production? It can play from before Halloween through Thanksgiving and Christmas, which makes it a triple holiday threat. Just saying.
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. Currently, North American box office is at $6.3b, with Thanksgiving and Christmas to go. 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. 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).
2. Joker–a reported $190mb. This won't come close to $600m worldwide, so I'm afraid it's a flop.
3. 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. 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, for reporting purposes so it doesn't seem so big. The total is $240m or so for three films, I believe, 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.
4. Terrifier 3 -- $23m ww debut on a $2mb! Success, thy name is cheap horror films.
5. 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.
6. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback.
7. 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.
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. 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.
10. 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!
11. 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.
12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- $7m / $1.031b ww ($125mb). Reissued in China.
14. My Hero Academia: You're Next -- $5m / $30m ww (three previous films $30m to $47m ww)
15. Deadpool & Wolverine– a $200mb means it's still a big winner.
19. 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.
20. Inside Out 2–$200mb. With $1.666b, it passes 2019's The Lion King to be the highest grossing animated film of all time.
21. Alien: Romulus–a reported $80mb
22. The Nightmare Before Christmas -- $2m / $105m ww (Made $103m before current reissue) ($18mb)
23. Veteran 2: I, The Executioner–A South Korean crime drama often simply called I, The Executioner and sequel to the 2015 hit film Veteran. The original cost $5mb and grossed more than $90m worldwide, so a sequel was inevitable, delayed only by the COVID pandemic. I am assuming the sequel cost $7mb but the numbers are a little unclear. Nonetheless, even if the budget doubled they should be in good shape.
24. The Forge–this faith-based film did better in its second week? Success! Reported $5mb.
25. 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.
26. Megalopolis–a reported $140mb means Francis Ford Coppola is not pulling off a miracle a la Apocalypse Now, not this time, unfortunately.
27. A Tapestry of a Legendary Land–this Chinese film seems to be adapting a famed dance piece into a theatrical film. A scholar studying a famed tapestry is magically transported back in time to embody the artist that painted it. I'm not sure if there's even any dialogue in the film, which is realistic, than dance-oriented but set in the past and then purely abstract and pretty.
28. Welcome to the Game/Bang Jia You Xi -- $2m ww debut bad day for our hero in this Chinese crime drama. He owes money to a casino that's about to collect...one way or another. AND his daughter is running away from home.
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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