WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 23, 2025

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 23, 2025 

A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide gross. 

I begin with data from Comscore and then pull from every other source available. 

1. Ne Zha 2–$237m / $1.872b worldwide total

2. Captain America: Brave New World–$108m /$289m ww

3. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy–$39 / $73m ww 

4. Chhaava–$35m / $54m ww 

5. Paddington in Peru–$21m / $150m ww 

6. Dog Man–$21m / $105m ww

7. The Monkey–$21m ww debut 

8. Detective Chinatown 1900–$18m / $462m ww 

9. Mufasa: The Lion King–$13m / $699m ww 

10. A Complete Unknown–$6m / $105m ww 

11. The Brutalist–$6m / $37m ww

12. Moana 2–$5m / $1,051b ww 

13. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$5m / $106m ww 

14. Heart Eyes–$5m / $28m ww 

15. Dragon–$5m ww debut 

16. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$4m /$483m ww 

17. Wicked–$3m / $728m ww 

18. Nosferatu–$3m / $179m ww

19. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$3m / $163m ww 

20. Conclave–$3m / $99m ww

21. Becoming Led Zeppelin–$3m / $9m ww

22. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–$2m / $91m ww 

23. Babygirl–$2m / $63m ww

24. One of Them Days–$2m / $46m ww 

25. Flight Risk–$2m / $42m ww 

26. I'm Still Here–$2m / $27m ww

27. Love Hurts–$2m / $16m ww

28. The Unbreakable Boy–$2m ww debut 

29. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$1m / $57m ww

30. Companion–$1m / $34m ww 

31. September 5–$1m / $7m ww

OFF THE RADAR: God Save The Tuche andThe Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog aka Die Drei ??? Und Der Karpatenhund. 

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 

As expected, Captain America: New World Order took a major tumble in week two. It needs to triple its opening week tally of $180m to be considered a hit and I'm not quite sure it's going to do that yet. One bright spot: it didn't drop nearly as much overseas as it did in the U.S. And spectacles like these usually make most of their money internationally, so there's hope for it yet. And don't compare it to the last Captain America movie, which grossed $1.1 billion worldwide. That one (subtitled Civil War) was an Avengers movie in all but name, while this is a genuine stand-alone Cap tale. 

In China, Ne Zha 2 is rewriting the books on how much money a movie can make in one territory. It's clearly going to gross $2 BILLION in China alone. That's stunning. And yet, to fully exploit the soft power of pop culture the way the US and the UK and South Korea and other countries do,  China should still strive to make movies that appeal to people all over the world. Just sayin'. 

Nonetheless, Ne Zha 2 has made $15m so far in North America and sits in the Top 5, while India's hit film Chhaava is in the Top 10. That film enjoyed a huge week two, so it was the polar opposite of Captain America: Brave New World. People really liked what they saw. Plus it's a rare hit for Bollywood, the Hindi division of India's complex and successful movie-making industry. Bollywood has been in a prolonged slump (or perhaps, like China's industry, become tiresomely jingoistic) and people are responding much more strongly to Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and other film centers. 

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy will barrel past $100m worldwide, making the decision to skip North America and go straight to streaming all the more idiotic. They left easy money on the table. 

Finally, two more movies make our list of films that are hits from box office alone: India's Chhaava and the horror flick The Monkey, which cost about $10mb and grossed $21m on its opening week. Sure it got terrible reviews, but it's a money maker! This list is meant as a handy guide to the winners and a constant reminder of how important mid-sized and small budget movies are to a healthy box office. 

Two films disappeared off my radar. It's possible, even likely, the German family film The Three Investigators–Carpathian Dog simply stopped making money. It only grossed a reported $2m last week. But the French comedy God Save The Tuche opened to $15m last week. It's highly unlikely the movie made less than $1m this week, but I can't find any info on it. Many markets remain black boxes unless the movies are big enough to be tracked by ComScore and the like. India, Japan and individual European countries (not to mention Central and South America) do not offer easy and timely access to box office the way China and South Korea do. The Wild Robot opened in Japan and I thought it would play really well there, but as far as I know it hasn't made a penny. That puzzles me. If anyone has links or suggestions of how I can track any of these markets (or any others), email me at mgiltz@pipeline.com. Thx!

2025 HIT FILMS

Here's a list of all the hit films making money in 2025. My rule of thumb is that films should gross roughly at least three times as much as their reported budget. Some people now say a movie need only make 2 1/2 times as much as their budget but I'm sticking with the traditional formula. Of course, we don't really know a movie's budget or the cost of advertising or the backroom deals. Remember, just because a movie isn't a hit from theatrical alone doesn't mean they're losing money. Far from it. We can't dive deep into Hollywood accounting. But we can spot the really big hits that will change careers, launch franchises and generally pay the bills. A few international films probably made the cut but since I don't have even a reported budget, I hate to reward them with hit status. Also, I'll include movies from 2024 if they make the majority of their money in 2025. Here goes. 

Big Budget ($100mb+)

Detective Chinatown 1900 (China) ($125mb est) 

Mid-sized budget ($21mb-$99mb) 

Boonie Bears: Future Reborn (China) ($50mb?) 

Dog Man ($40mb) 

Ne Zha 2 (China) ($80mb) 

Nosferatu ($50mb) 

Small Budget ($20mb or less)

Babygirl ($20mb) 

Becoming Led Zeppelin (>$2mb)

The Brutalist ($10mb) 

Chhaava (Indian/Hindi) ($15mb)

Companion ($10mb) 

Conclave ($20mb; must gross $106m to belong on this list) 

I'm Still Here ($?mb but likely less than $10mb) 

One of Them Days ($14mb) 

Presence ($2mb) 

NOTES 

mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide

1. Ne Zha 2–Reported $80mb. Chinese animated fantasy sequel to the 2019 smash which cost about $20m and grossed $743m. A spin-off film Jiang Ziya was hobbled by COVID but grossed $243m. Now the direct sequel Ne Zha 2 cost $80m and our spunky heroine (based on a famed mythological character around for centuries) takes on sea monsters. The series is based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin from the 16th century. 

2. Captain America: Brave New World–$180mb

3. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy–$50mb and straight to streaming in the world's biggest market because? 

4. Chhaava–$15mb Indian/Hindi language action historical epic. 

5. Paddington in Peru–$90mb? Sadly, three times is not the charm artistically for this once-perfect franchise.  

6. Dog Man–A reported $40mb. It's always good to gross your budget on opening week. Plus, the books are funny, the reviews are good, the audience response is great and it has the rest of the world to open in. So get ready for Dog Man 2. 

7. The Monkey -- $10m reported budget means this adaptation of a Stephen King short story is a box office winner right out of the gate. Cheap horror films are money in the bank...but 2025 has so many I have to assume audiences will become sick and tired of them any minute now. Not forever, not all of them, but surely the surfeit of slasher flicks will prove too much of a good thing. Just not yet. 

8. Detective Chinatown 1900–$125mb at least? This is the fourth in a wildly popular buddy comedy mystery series. Think oh, Rush Hour? 48 Hours? Each film cost more than the one before and grossed more. Since we're on film #4 and it's a period movie set in San Francisco, it's safe to assume this cost more than #3, which cost $117m and grossed $686m worldwide. I mean, $150mb is probably more realistic, at least. Oh and clues in this one indicate the next film in the series will be set in London. So, Detective Chinatown 1920, here we come. 

9. Mufasa: The Lion King–$200mb. 

10. A Complete Unknown–$60mb+ for this Bob Dylan biopic? That's a lot of money for a film about Dylan going electric at Newport. I mean, I wanted to see it but then I'm a Dylan fanatic. But $180m worldwide seems highly unlikely to me, if not impossible. (Do other countries give a toss about this? Is Chalamet a big enough draw for this story? I doubt it.) I'm glad it was made, but it was made for too much. Like Gladiator II, this will be seen as a commercial success, but it's not. 

11. The Brutalist–$10mb; Adrien Brody in this architect-as-hero period drama. 

12. Moana 2–$150mb. Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first? Or higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost $150mb, just like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this.  

13. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$50mb? This once low budget animated franchise keeps getting bigger and bigger at the box office. Film #9 grossed $220m and #10 grossed $270m. 

14. Heart Eyes–$18mb for rom/com slash horror film. 

15. Dragon–$4mb for this Indian/Tamil coming of age comedy drama. A young guy gets too clever with a crooked path to riches, endangering his job, his relationships and his family's reputation. Can he reform? Does he want to? 

16. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$120mb 

17. Wicked–$150mb for each part, so $300mb total plus beaucoup marketing. It's a big movie! And they're made almost all their money back from Part One alone. 

18. Nosferatu–$50mb for Robert Eggers, acclaimed director of The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. That last film had his biggest budget and was not a commercial success, so I saw him as more of an arthouse guy. But backers stuck with him, gave Eggers a big budget and a starry cast for a remake of Nosferatu, which I guess is classier than remaking Dracula but still a hard sell. And opening on Christmas Day? That's counter-programming I was not behind. Happily, I was wrong and Eggers now looks more like the next Peter Jackson/Guillermo Del Toro. Good for him.

19. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$110mb? Creation of the Gods is a live action fantasy trilogy that was shot all at once over an 18 month period, a la Lord of the Rings. Since the first part cost $110m, presumably parts two and three cost at least as much, though their initial releases were delayed because of time-consuming special effects. And guess what? Like Ne Zha 1 and 2, this too is based on Investiture of the Gods, making Ming dynasty author Xu Zhonglin the hottest scribe in town. Yes, there are a handful of English translations of the tales, but none of them received a single professional review and only one even has a handful of reader reviews, so I would be wary. And I'm still waiting for a good translation of the epic from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was drawn. 

20. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means this is a hit. I do not see the point in putting it on PVOD and flooding the market with bootlegs while potentially harming box office. This is exactly the sort of film that can play and play in theaters. 

21. Becoming Led Zeppelin–Long-gestating doc broke into the Top 10 on opening weekend, playing on IMAX  screens only. In its second weekend, the film has an excellent hold. This traditional doc (talking heads, concert footage) has already grossed $6m, which is serious money for this type of film. There is no reported budget, but given all that I know, it seems likely the total was $2mb or less, so this is a winner. 

22. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–No budget available. A wuxia martial arts period adventure film written and directed by the legendary Tsui Hark. It's based on part of the novel of the same name by Jin Yong. 

23. Babygirl–$20mb for this Nicole Kidman sexy drama about a powerful businesswoman finding her kink with a younger, dominating man...her intern, no less! No milk was harmed in the making of this movie. 

24. One of Them Days–$14mb. It's always good to gross your budget during a film's opening week. So yea for producer Issa Rae and this comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA. (What an opening week for SZA! Her movie opened well and she made my list of The 250 Best Albums of the 21st Century...So Far.)

25. Flight Risk–$25mb for director Mel Gibson action film starring Mark Walhberg.

26. I'm Still Here–this Brazilian Oscar contender has no reported budget. But it's almost certainly a success story commercially for director Walter Salles. However, it's been a hard one to track. Usually, the film's grosses have been less than $1m so it hasn't made my weekly chart. This week, the film expanded in North America and grossed $1m in that market alone. So far in North America it has made $2.6m. Worldwide? Well, Box Office Mojo claims its worldwide gross stands at $22m. Wow. Maybe it's been opening in markets all over the world but never quite at the same time and never hitting big enough numbers to be tracked by ComScore, which only reports on the Top 10 right now.  That seemed like a lot so I jumped to Wikipedia, where some fan links to a story written in Brazilian Portuguese and claims it's hit $99m worldwide. Ha! Uh, no. UPDATE: Wikipedia comes through again. The rogue editor has likely been blocked and the gross has been corrected.

27. Love Hurts–$18mb for action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose. This is no way to follow-up winning an Oscar!

28. The Unbreakable Boy–heartwarming family film about little boy with rare bone disease and autism but a zest for life that wins over everyone. 

29. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$40mb for Gerard Butler action flick. 

30. Companion–A reported $10mb for this sci-fi horror comedy. Great reviews means this one should have a long run at the box office. 

31. September 5–No reported budget. 

OFF THE RADAR: God Save The Tuche–the fifth in the French comedy series about a lower-class family that wins the lottery and tries to crash into upper society. This time, they have their sights set on the UK.

The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog aka Die Drei ??? Und Der Karpatenhund–No reported budget.

34. Secret: Untold Melody–SK drama remake of a Taiwanese weepie about a pianist whose career is cut short by tragedy...but he finds comfort from a time-traveling woman. 

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 each 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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WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 16, 2025

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 16, 2025 

A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide gross. 

I begin with data from Comscore and then pull from every other source available. 

1. Ne Zha 2–$539m / $1.635b worldwide total

2. Captain America: Brave New World–$181m ww debut 

3. Detective Chinatown 1900–$60m / $444m ww

4. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy–$34m ww debut

5. Paddington in Peru–$25m / $129m ww

6. Chhaava–$19m ww debut

7. Dog Man–$18m / $84m ww 

8. Mufasa: The Lion King–$15m / $686m ww 

9. God Save The Tuche–$15m ww debut

10. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$14m / $101m ww 

11. Heart Eyes–$14m / $23m ww 

12. A Complete Unknown–$9m / $99m ww

13. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$8m / $160m ww 

14. Moana 2–$7m / $1,046b ww 

15. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$7m /$479m ww

16. Love Hurts–$7m / $14m ww

17. Operation Hadal–$6m / $54m ww 

18. Flight Risk–$6m / $40m ww

19. Companion–$6m / $33m ww 

20. The Brutalist–$6m / $31m ww

21. One of Them Days–$5m / $44m ww 

22. Conclave–$4m / $96m ww

23. Nosferatu–$3m / $176m ww

24. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–$3m / $89m ww 

25. Babygirl–$3m / $61m ww

26. I'm Still Here–$3m / $25m ww

27. Becoming Led Zeppelin–$3m / $6m ww 

28. Wicked–$2m / $725m ww 

29. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$2m / $56m ww 

30. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog aka Die Drei ??? Und Der Karpatenhund–$2m / $9m ww

31. September 5–$2m / $6m ww 

32. Wolf Man–$1m / $34m ww

33. Hitman2–$1m / $16m ww

34. Secret: Untold Melody–$1m / $5m 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 

Anthony Mackie bears the shield for Captain America: New World Order, the latest Marvel movie. It had a strong opening. While critics have been very negative, audiences seem to like the movie just fine. Let's see how week two holds up, but this will very likely be a winner. Comparisons can be misleading since the last film in this franchise–Captain America: Civil War––was an Avengers movie in all respects, with a bigger budget and $1b+ haul to show for it. This is all Cap all the time and has a "smaller" reported budget of $180mb. If it makes $750m they should be thrilled. 

But the big news remains Ne Zha 2 in China. I'm pretty sure it beat Star Wars: The Force Awakens and grossed $1b in just eleven days, (one day better than that other film). The fact that it did so in just one territory is all the more amazing. And its holds have been astonishing: last week it grossed $650m. This week? It grossed $539m! Now Star Wars: The Force Awakens grossed $2b in 53 days. This film is poised to cut that record in half. I don't need to remind you that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the hotly anticipated seventh film in one of the most popular franchises of all time. 

Oscar season is heating up and the box office is benefitting. Both A Complete Unknown and Conclave are crossing the $100m mark worldwide at precisely the same time. Plus, the sorely under-appreciated September 5 is doing some business as well. But they're all being eclipsed when it comes to the awards that matter: the guilds. And when it comes to the guilds, Anora is pulling away. If it wins Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards, I'll consider this PGA, DGA and WGA award winner a lock for Best Picture. 

In other news, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy  received the best reviews in the franchise since the original film and had a strong opening everywhere but the US...where it went straight to streaming on Peacock. A name brand movie with big stars in a market starved for romantic comedies? What a wasted opportunity. 

In France, the Tuches are back. In the fifth film in the series about poor people winning the lottery and crashing the world of the rich–think Beverly Hillbillies crossed with Married With Children–heads to England. Unless it collapses, I'll assume this one is a winner next week. 

2025 HIT FILMS

Here's a list of all the hit films making money in 2025. My rule of thumb is that films should gross roughly at least three times as much as their reported budget. Some people now say a movie need only make 2 1/2 times as much as their budget but I'm sticking with the traditional formula. Of course, we don't really know a movie's budget or the cost of advertising or the backroom deals. Remember, just because a movie isn't a hit from theatrical alone doesn't mean they're losing money. Far from it. We can't dive deep into Hollywood accounting. But we can spot the really big hits that will change careers, launch franchises and generally pay the bills. A few international films probably made the cut but since I don't have even a reported budget, I hate to reward them with hit status. Also, I'll include movies from 2024 if they make the majority of their money in 2025. Here goes. 

Big Budget ($100mb+)

Detective Chinatown 1900 ($125mb est) 

Mid-sized budget ($21mb-$99mb) 

Boonie Bears: Future Reborn ($50mb?) 

Dog Man ($40mb) 

Ne Zha 2 ($80mb) 

Nosferatu ($50mb) 

Small Budget ($20mb or less)

Babygirl ($20mb) 

Becoming Led Zeppelin (>$2mb)

The Brutalist ($10mb) 

Companion ($10mb) 

Conclave ($20mb; must gross $106m to belong on this list) 

I'm Still Here ($?mb but likely less than $10mb) 

One of Them Days ($14mb) 

Presence ($2mb) 

NOTES 

mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide

1. Ne Zha 2–Reported $80mb. Chinese animated fantasy sequel to the 2019 smash which cost about $20m and grossed $743m. A spin-off film Jiang Ziya was hobbled by COVID but grossed $243m. Now the direct sequel Ne Zha 2 cost $80m and our spunky heroine (based on a famed mythological character around for centuries) takes on sea monsters. The series is based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin from the 16th century. 

2. Captain America: Brave New World–$180mb

3. Detective Chinatown 1900–$125mb at least? This is the fourth in a wildly popular buddy comedy mystery series. Think oh, Rush Hour? 48 Hours? Each film cost more than the one before and grossed more. Since we're on film #4 and it's a period movie set in San Francisco, it's safe to assume this cost more than #3, which cost $117m and grossed $686m worldwide. I mean, $150mb is probably more realistic, at least. Oh and clues in this one indicate the next film in the series will be set in London. So, Detective Chinatown 1920, here we come. 

4. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy–$50mb and straight to streaming in the world's biggest market because?

5. Paddington in Peru–$90mb? Sadly, three times is not the charm artistically for this once-perfect franchise. 

6. Chhaava–$15mb Indian/Hindi language action historical epic. 

7. Dog Man–A reported $40mb. It's always good to gross your budget on opening week. Plus, the books are funny, the reviews are good, the audience response is great and it has the rest of the world to open in. So get ready for Dog Man 2. 

8. Mufasa: The Lion King–$200mb. 

9. God Save The Tuche–the fifth in the French comedy series about a lower-class family that wins the lottery and tries to crash into upper society. This time, they have their sights set on the UK.

10. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$50mb? This once low budget animated franchise keeps getting bigger and bigger at the box office. Film #9 grossed $220m and #10 grossed $270m. 

11. Heart Eyes–$18mb for rom/com slash horror film. 

12. A Complete Unknown–$60mb+ for this Bob Dylan biopic? That's a lot of money for a film about Dylan going electric at Newport. I mean, I wanted to see it but then I'm a Dylan fanatic. But $180m worldwide seems highly unlikely to me, if not impossible. (Do other countries give a toss about this? Is Chalamet a big enough draw for this story? I doubt it.) I'm glad it was made, but it was made for too much. Like Gladiator II, this will be seen as a commercial success, but it's not. 

13. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$110mb? Creation of the Gods is a live action fantasy trilogy that was shot all at once over an 18 month period, a la Lord of the Rings. Since the first part cost $110m, presumably parts two and three cost at least as much, though their initial releases were delayed because of time-consuming special effects. And guess what? Like Ne Zha 1 and 2, this too is based on Investiture of the Gods, making Ming dynasty author Xu Zhonglin the hottest scribe in town. Yes, there are a handful of English translations of the tales, but none of them received a single professional review and only one even has a handful of reader reviews, so I would be wary. And I'm still waiting for a good translation of the epic from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was drawn. 

14. Moana 2–$150mb. Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first? Or higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost $150mb, just like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this.  

15. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$120mb 

16. Love Hurts–$18mb for action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose. This is no way to follow-up winning an Oscar!

17. Operation Hadal–$150mb. In director Dante Lam's Chinese action film, mercenaries have taken over a deep sea platform in Chinese waters and well, the Chinese Navy is not about to take that lying down.  It's a sequel to Operation Red Sea which cost $70m and grossed almost $600m. This cost twice as much and looks like it will struggle to gross half as much. Not good. 

18. Flight Risk–$25mb for director Mel Gibson action film starring Mark Walhberg.

19. Companion–A reported $10mb for this sci-fi horror comedy. Great reviews means this one should have a long run at the box office. 

20. The Brutalist–$10mb; Adrien Brody in this architect-as-hero period drama. 

21. One of Them Days–$14mb. It's always good to gross your budget during a film's opening week. So yea for producer Issa Rae and this comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA. (What an opening week for SZA! Her movie opened well and she made my list of The 250 Best Albums of the 21st Century...So Far.)

22. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means this is a hit. I do not see the point in putting it on PVOD and flooding the market with bootlegs while potentially harming box office. This is exactly the sort of film that can play and play in theaters. 

23. Nosferatu–$50mb for Robert Eggers, acclaimed director of The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. That last film had his biggest budget and was not a commercial success, so I saw him as more of an arthouse guy. But backers stuck with him, gave Eggers a big budget and a starry cast for a remake of Nosferatu, which I guess is classier than remaking Dracula but still a hard sell. And opening on Christmas Day? That's counter-programming I was not behind. Happily, I was wrong and Eggers now looks more like the next Peter Jackson/Guillermo Del Toro. Good for him.

24. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–No budget available. A wuxia martial arts period adventure film written and directed by the legendary Tsui Hark. It's based on part of the novel of the same name by Jin Yong. 

25. Babygirl–$20mb for this Nicole Kidman sexy drama about a powerful businesswoman finding her kink with a younger, dominating man...her intern, no less! No milk was harmed in the making of this movie. 

26. I'm Still Here–this Brazilian Oscar contender has no reported budget. But it's almost certainly a success story commercially for director Walter Salles. However, it's been a hard one to track. Usually, the film's grosses have been less than $1m so it hasn't made my weekly chart. This week, the film expanded in North America and grossed $1m in that market alone. So far in North America it has made $2.6m. Worldwide? Well, Box Office Mojo claims its worldwide gross stands at $22m. Wow. Maybe it's been opening in markets all over the world but never quite at the same time and never hitting big enough numbers to be tracked by ComScore, which only reports on the Top 10 right now.  That seemed like a lot so I jumped to Wikipedia, where some fan links to a story written in Brazilian Portuguese and claims it's hit $99m worldwide. Ha! Uh, no. UPDATE: Wikipedia comes through again. The rogue editor has likely been blocked and the gross has been corrected.

27. Becoming Led Zeppelin–Long-gestating doc broke into the Top 10 on opening weekend, playing on IMAX  screens only. In its second weekend, the film has an excellent hold. This traditional doc (talking heads, concert footage) has already grossed $6m, which is serious money for this type of film. There is no reported budget, but given all that I know, it seems likely the total was $2mb or less, so this is a winner. 

28. Wicked–$150mb for each part, so $300mb total plus beaucoup marketing. It's a big movie! And they're made almost all their money back from Part One alone. 

29. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$40mb for Gerard Butler action flick. 

30. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog aka Die Drei ??? Und Der Karpatenhund–No reported budget.

31. September 5–No reported budget. 

32. Wolf Man–$25mb 

33. Hitman2–Korean action comedy. The creator of a webtoon series is derided for the quality of his latest season...until real-life terrorists seem to mirror his storyline and he's suddenly under suspicion by the government. The original film grossed $18m. 

34. Secret: Untold Melody–SK drama remake of a Taiwanese weepie about a pianist whose career is cut short by tragedy...but he finds comfort from a time-traveling woman. 

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 each 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. 

--30--     

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 9, 2025

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 9, 2025 

A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide gross. I begin with data from 

Comscore and then pull from every other source available. 

1. Ne Zha 2–$650m / $1.096b worldwide total 

2. Detective Chinatown 1900–$124m / $384m ww 

3. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$27m / $87m ww 

4. Dog Man–$25m / $66m ww 

5. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$24m / $152m ww 

6. Mufasa: The Lion King–$18m / $671m ww

7. Operation Hadal–$13m / $48m ww 

8. A Complete Unknown–$12m / $90m ww

9. Companion–$12m / $27m ww 

10. Paddington in Peru–$11m / $104m ww 

11. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$16m /$472m ww 

12. Babygirl–$10m / $58m ww

13. Flight Risk–$9m / $34m ww

14. Heart Eyes–$9m ww debut 

15. The Brutalist–$7m / $25m ww 

16. Love Hurts–$7m ww debut

17. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–$8m / $86m ww 

18. Conclave–$5m / $92m ww

19. Wicked–$4m / $723m ww

20. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$4m / $54m ww

21. One of Them Days–$4m / $39m ww 

22. Wolf Man–$3m / $33m ww

23. Becoming Led Zeppelin–$3m ww debut 

24. Moana 2–$2m / $1,039b ww

25. Hitman2–$2m / $15m ww 

26. Secret: Untold Melody–$2m / $4m ww 

27. September 5–$2m / $4m ww 

28. Gladiator II–$1m / $462m ww

29. Nosferatu–$1m / $173m ww

30. I'm Still Here–$1m / $22m ww 

31. Better Man–$1m / $20m ww 

32. Presence–$1m / $8m ww

33. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog aka Die Drei ??? Und Der Karpatenhund–$1m / $7m 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 

The Chinese box office continues to set records. Three different movies have proven big winners: the eleventh in the Boonie Bears animated franchise, the fourth in the live action Detective Chinatown franchise and the animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2. It is now the first film in history to gross $1 billion in one market alone. The previous record holder was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which  grossed $936.7m in North America alone. (That's a good thing since it cost a reported $500mb!) Worldwide it hit $2b in all. Will Ne Zha 2 match it? Unlikely. The original grossed more than $700m in China alone, but in North America it grossed less than $4m. In the entire rest of the world it grossed less than $40m. 

Because it's Super Bowl weekend, not much is happening in the U.S. But next weekend we'll see the worldwide launch of Captain America: Brave New World. Will Anthony Mackie win fans as the new Cap? Early tracking looks good for opening weekend and it sure would help if the movie is actually any good. We shall see. 

While we wait, I'm launching a new permanent feature: a list of the movies that have proven hits from theatrical alone. I'll group them in three categories: big budget ($100m+), mid-sized (hmm, maybe $21mb-$99mb) and small budget ($20mb or less). Blockbusters can get you only so far; for theatrical to succeed, we need all types of movies: low budget horror flicks, mid-sized movies for adults or potential offbeat franchises and would-be blockbusters. 

2025 HIT FILMS

Here's a list of all the hit films making money in 2025. My rule of thumb is that films should gross roughly at least three times as much as their reported budget. Some people now say a movie need only make 2 1/2 times as much as their budget but I'm sticking with the traditional formula. Of course, we don't really know a movie's budget or the cost of advertising or the backroom deals. Remember, just because a movie isn't a hit from theatrical alone doesn't mean they're losing money. Far from it. We can't dive deep into Hollywood accounting. But we can spot the really big hits that will change careers, launch franchises and generally pay the bills. A few international films probably made the cut but since I don't have even a reported budget, I hate to reward them with hit status. Also, I'll include movies from 2024 if they make the majority of their money in 2025. Here goes. 

Big Budget ($100mb+)

Detective Chinatown 1900 ($125mb est) 

Mid-sized budget ($21mb-$99mb) 

Boonie Bears: Future Reborn ($50mb?) 

Dog Man ($40mb) 

Ne Zha 2 ($80mb) 

Nosferatu ($50mb) 

Small Budget ($20mb or less)

Babygirl ($20mb) 

The Brutalist ($10mb) 

Companion ($10mb) 

Conclave ($20mb; must gross $106m to belong on this list) 

I'm Still Here ($?mb but likely less than $10mb) 

One of Them Days ($14mb) 

Presence ($2mb) 

NOTES 

mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide

1. Ne Zha 2–Reported $80mb. Chinese animated fantasy sequel to the 2019 smash which cost about $20m and grossed $743m. A spin-off film Jiang Ziya was hobbled by COVID but grossed $243m. Now the direct sequel Ne Zha 2 cost $80m and our spunky heroine (based on a famed mythological character around for centuries) takes on sea monsters. The series is based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin from the 16th century. 

2. Detective Chinatown 1900–$125mb at least? This is the fourth in a wildly popular buddy comedy mystery series. Think oh, Rush Hour? 48 Hours? Each film cost more than the one before and grossed more. Since we're on film #4 and it's a period movie set in San Francisco, it's safe to assume this cost more than #3, which cost $117m and grossed $686m worldwide. I mean, $150mb is probably more realistic, at least. Oh and clues in this one indicate the next film in the series will be set in London. So, Detective Chinatown 1920, here we come. 

3. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$50mb? This once low budget animated franchise keeps getting bigger and bigger at the box office. Film #9 grossed $220m and #10 grossed $270m. 

4. Dog Man–A reported $40mb. It's always good to gross your budget on opening week. Plus, the books are funny, the reviews are good, the audience response is great and it has the rest of the world to open in. So get ready for Dog Man 2. 

5. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$110mb? Creation of the Gods is a live action fantasy trilogy that was shot all at once over an 18 month period, a la Lord of the Rings. Since the first part cost $110m, presumably parts two and three cost at least as much, though their initial releases were delayed because of time-consuming special effects. And guess what? Like Ne Zha 1 and 2, this too is based on Investiture of the Gods, making Ming dynasty author Xu Zhonglin the hottest scribe in town. Yes, there are a handful of English translations of the tales, but none of a single professional review and only one even has a handful of reader reviews, so I would be wary. And I'm still waiting for a good translation of the epic from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was drawn. 

6. Mufasa: The Lion King–$200mb. 

7. Operation Hadal–$150mb. In director Dante Lam's Chinese action film, mercenaries have taken over a deep sea platform in Chinese waters and well, the Chinese Navy is not about to take that lying down.  It's a sequel to Operation Red Sea which cost $70m and grossed almost $600m. This cost twice as much and looks like it will struggle to gross half as much. Not good. 

8. A Complete Unknown–$60mb+ for this Bob Dylan biopic? That's a lot of money for a film about Dylan going electric at Newport. I mean, I wanted to see it but then I'm a Dylan fanatic. But $180m worldwide seems highly unlikely to me, if not impossible. (Do other countries give a toss about this? Is Chalamet a big enough draw for this story? I doubt it.) I'm glad it was made, but it was made for too much. Like Gladiator II, this will be seen as a commercial success, but it's not. 

9. Companion–A reported $10mb for this sci-fi horror comedy. Great reviews means this one should have a long run at the box office. 

10. Paddington in Peru–$90mb? Sadly, three times is not the charm artistically for this once-perfect franchise. 

11. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$120mb 

12. Babygirl–$20mb for this Nicole Kidman sexy drama about a powerful businesswoman finding her kink with a younger, dominating man...her intern, no less! No milk was harmed in the making of this movie. 

13. Flight Risk–$25mb for director Mel Gibson action film starring Mark Walhberg.

14. Heart Eyes–$18mb for a Valentine's Day-themed horror flick. 

15. The Brutalist–$10mb; Adrien Brody in this architect-as-hero period drama. 

16. Love Hurts–$18mb for action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose. This is no way to follow-up winning an Oscar!

17. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–No budget available. A wuxia martial arts period adventure film written and directed by the legendary Tsui Hark. It's based on part of the novel of the same name by Jin Yong. 

18. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means this is a hit. I do not see the point in putting it on PVOD and flooding the market with bootlegs while potentially harming box office. This is exactly the sort of film that can play and play in theaters. 

19. Wicked–$150mb for each part, so $300mb total plus beaucoup marketing. It's a big movie! And they're made almost all their money back from the Part One alone. 

20. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$40mb for Gerard Butler action flick. 

21. One of Them Days–$14mb. It's always good to gross your budget during a film's opening week. So yea for producer Issa Rae and this comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA. (What an opening week for SZA! Her movie opened well and she made my list of The 250 Best Albums of the 21st Century...So Far.)

22. Wolf Man–$25mb 

23. Becoming Led Zeppelin–Long-gestating doc breaks into the Top 10 on opening weekend, playing on IMAX  screens only. 

24. Moana 2–Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first? Or higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost $150mb, just like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this.  

25. Hitman2–Korean action comedy. The creator of a webtoon series is derided for the quality of his latest season...until real-life terrorists seem to mirror his storyline and he's suddenly under suspicion by the government. The original film grossed $18m. 

26. Secret: Untold Melody–SK drama remake of a Taiwanese weepie about a pianist whose career is cut short by tragedy...but he finds comfort from a time-traveling woman. 

27. September 5–No reported budget. 

28. Gladiator II–$250mb for Ridley Scott sword and sandals epic. It needed $750m worldwide for me to call it a hit from theatrical alone but $600m would be just fine. It's got swords. It's got sandals. Does it have legs? No, it does not. This is the sort of film that everyone thinks of as a hit, but actually didn't deliver. The talk of Gladiator 3 is nonsense. Maybe many years from now they'll use the name to launch a new franchise, but this is the end for now. 

29. Nosferatu–$50mb for Robert Eggers, acclaimed director of The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. That had his biggest budget and was not a commercial success. I saw him as more of an arthouse guy. But backers stuck with him, gave him a big budget again and a starry cast for a remake of Nosferatu, which I guess is classier than remaking Dracula but still a hard sell. And on Christmas Day? That's counter-programming I was not behind. Happily, I was wrong and Eggers looks more like the next Peter Jackson/Guillermo Del Toro than a guy given big budgets too fast or for the wrong projects. Good for him.

30. I'm Still Here–this Brazilian Oscar contender has no reported budget. But it's almost certainly a success story commercially for director Walter Salles. However, it's been a hard one to track. Usually, the film's grosses have been less than $1m so it hasn't made my weekly chart. This week, the film expanded in North America and grossed $1m in that market alone. So far in North America it has made $2.6m. Worldwide? Well, Box Office Mojo claims its worldwide gross stands at $22m. Wow. Maybe it's been opening in markets all over the world but never quite at the same time and never hitting big enough numbers to be tracked by ComScore, which only reports on the Top 10 right now.  That seemed like a lot so I jumped to Wikipedia, where some fan links to a story written in Brazilian Portuguese and claims it's hit $99m worldwide. Ha! Uh, no. 

31. Better Man–$110mb!!! I just gasped when I saw the budget. Oh dear. I love the craziness of this movie. But that's a LOT of money for such a nutty idea. And forget the nutty idea. It's a musical biopic about an artist whose music I really like but has virtually no profile outside the UK. For heaven's sake, Queen is one of the biggest acts in the world and their biopic cost literally half of this one. Better Man would have been a big gamble at $30mb. 

32. Presence–$2mb for retired director Steven Soderbergh's first of two movies out in 2025. 

33. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog aka Die Drei ??? Und Der Karpatenhund–No reported budget.

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 each 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. 

--30--     

FILM REVIEW: "A WOMAN IS A WOMAN"

FILM REVIEW: A WOMAN IS A WOMAN 

Film Forum

Long ago, if you asked me to choose between the directors Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut,  I chose Truffaut every time. Truffaut championed others. Godard, to me, put others down. He was a snob, a purist of the worst sort. It's an odd claim to make about someone who helped champion the greatness of Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks, but there you are. 

I heard Godard belittle the cinema of Steven Spielberg and that was when Spielberg was at his peak of greatness. But Godard had no patience for a movie like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, no matter that it had followed the TV movie Duel and The Sugarland Express and Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Not to mention the fact that E.T. was clearly a masterpiece.) Maybe he was just annoyed that Spielberg asked Truffaut to cameo in Close Encounters of the Third Kind rather than him. But really, if you were going to ask someone to greet aliens arriving on Earth, would anyone choose Godard? If he had no time for Spielberg, I had no time for him. 

The only problem was that I kept seeing his movies. Breathless. Contempt. Bande à part. Again and again I would see his films and again and again I would have to admit, ok, that's genuinely brilliant. Damn him! 

On the plus side, my initial resistance to Godard the man means I get to keep discovering more of the movies by Godard the director. That brings me to A Man and a Woman, the film debut of Anna Karina playing at Film Forum in an impeccably restored print. It's a delight. And few films are so casually charming and wildly radical at the same time. 

The story is simplicity itself. Anna Karina plays Angela, a strip-tease artist who lives happily with Émile but is also openly adored by their friend Alfred. Angela wakes up, decides she wants a baby and plays the two men off of each other until she gets her way. That's when she's not dashing off to a club to perform her strip tease or fantasizing about appearing in a lavish, MGM musical. Since the two men are Jean-Paul Belmondo as the friend Alfred and Jean-Claude Brialy as Émile, the question of who ends up with whom feels rather low stakes, since surely she could be happy with either one of these delightful men and either one of them would be lucky to have her. Or each other, frankly. It's quite the bromance as they occasionally resist her plans by banding together. 

That's it. Two men vie for the affections of a woman while she keeps her eye on the prize of getting pregnant. But as he did with Breathless–though maybe more so–Godard toys with the very idea of movie-making. At every moment he challenges you to remember you're watching a movie. It's artificial, not real. These are actors, not people. It's all made-up and preposterous. Godard practically dares you to care about what's happening. And yet, somehow you do. 

How does this happen? The subversion of movie-making is easy, actually. The actors break the fourth wall and address the camera. Dialogue includes people in a cafe wondering if Truffaut's Jules and Jim is any good. And sound! Godard pulls the rug out from under us time and again. When Angela is walking down the street, the sound might switch from naturalistic (we can hear the cars and noise of the city around her) to just the sound of her shoes clacking on the sidewalk to a soaring soundtrack of music to nothing at all. 

When Angela is at her club performing a strip tease to a song, we hear the musical buildup until she begins singing...and then the other sound in the film drops away and all we hear is the voice of Anna Karina. Again and again, Godard tweaks us on the nose: it's a movie, he says! It's not real. You know this and I won't let you forget it. The actors bow to the audience watching the movie, pause for a cigarette and goof around in a thousand subtle ways. 

The club where Angela performs is surely the craziest cabaret/strip joint in history. The women performing have elaborate costumes and musical numbers, each one prettier than the next. Angela dashes in for her one number and then dashes off again. How many performers would they need in a day? Fifty? A hundred? And who are these delightful creatures performing for? A nearly empty cafe, with a handful of men usually sitting alone, smoking, reading and often barely looking up. (Unless they're whipping out binoculars.) Even when Anna Karina is performing? I'm gay and I'd stand in line to watch that act. 

Among the many highlights include musical interludes, Émile bicycling around the apartment and the "battle of books" between Angela and Émile. When they're in bed but not speaking to each other, they communicate by rummaging through the books in their apartment and then simply point at the titles they've chosen to make a statement or counter an argument. I've no doubt moviegoers tried to duplicate this oh so chic way of fighting when they got home. 

How can we care about the fate of these people when Godard insists on reminding us again and again that it's all make believe? It helps to have actors of such immense charm. Belmondo's askew boxer nose and rakish charm put New Wave on the world map with Breathless. Brialy had even more substantial credits to his name by this point and his deadpan nature and willingness to be silly makes it clear why Karina's character never truly wavered from him. Belmondo is cooler than cool, but silliness beats cool anytime in my book. In her film debut, Karina is effortless and winning, making it obvious why Godard married her and showcased Karina in eight of his best films. (And why they were eight of his best films.) 

Godard's looseness in scripting and shooting and especially the post-production toying with sound and editing and the like seem obvious ploys now. But few did it before him and no one could really do it that much after him because, well, he'd done it. What more is there to say about the making or watching of a movie that isn't said here? Whether you want a delightful romantic comedy or a film master's essay on cinema, A Woman is A Woman fits the bill. 

THEATER REVIEW: "STILL"

THEATER REVIEW: STILL

Sheen Center For Thought and Culture 

Through March 23

When the play ended, my guest said, "I didn't know my bucket list included watching Melissa Gilbert clumsily play the ukulele and sing Elvis Presley's 'Can't Help Falling In Love.' But apparently it did and now I can cross it off." 

That's the pleasure of live theater. A modest play with modest ambition is enlivened by two pros like Melissa Gilbert (of Little House on the Prairie fame) and Mark Moses (who had roles in not one but two key TV dramas:  Mad Men and Desperate Housewives). And a sweet, unexpected moment–like Gilbert's musical offering late in the show–will make an entire evening worthwhile. 

[MELISSA GILBERT and MARK MOSES. Photo by Jeremy Daniel]

In this romantic two-hander by Lia Romeo, old friends (and old flames) named Helen and Mark meet at a hotel bar to catch up. The conversation follows the usual pattern: they catch up on careers and family and health. They laud each other's work; hers as a successful author and his lucrative job as an attorney. They flirt, both openly and indirectly. They reveal thoughts and feelings about their relationship long ago and why it ended. They're both single now. Hmmm. 

He kisses her. She kisses him. They tumble upstairs to his hotel room. They have enjoyable sex. And then they discuss politics. Oops.  I thought the play came more alive when the left/right divide reared its head. But then, I like a good argument so your mileage may vary. 

This isn't a charming Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn sort of argument, a la Adam's Rib. It's more fundamental. Can you have a satisfying relationship with someone who doesn't share your core values? Should you even try? I say no.  But they're not as sure as I am and the play is open to at least the possibility of this night being the beginning, rather than a sad end. 

But the essential weakness of Still is that their political debate is too familiar. What you remember is the scene early on when they try to one-up each other with signs of aging. "I have hair on my shoulders," says Mark. "I have three fake teeth," says Helen. "I have arthritis in my knees," he counters. "I'm missing the nail on my right big toe." "I have a spare tire." "I have kidney stones." 

Naturally, they're soon making out. And a physical bit of business when they head to his hotel room also endears. The set revolves from the hotel bar to the bedroom while Gilbert and Moses are making out and then quickly disrobing. But not that quickly. The set is revolving, for one thing and people in their 60s (just barely, Melissa, I know!) don't do acrobatics. They're both a little deliberate when undressing and laying their clothes down, just as older people do. You don't want to fall, after all.

That modest cautiousness may just be a practical choice. But it says more about where these two characters are at this stage of life than any dialogue. Gilbert and Moses create some much-needed chemistry and believability that these two people maybe were and are and just might be right for each other. (Or left!) And then she plays the ukulele and sings and you forget everything else in the world and decide he'd be a fool not to switch political allegiances just to have a chance. 

[MARK MOSES and MELISSA GILBERT in STILL. photo by Maria Baranova]

Their earlier scene of "anything you can do, I can do better" is echoed at the end. Mark wonders if they might at least have dinner the next time he's near her town. Traffic? Parking? A decent restaurant? Every obstacle she suggests, he counters with a solution. Or at least the possibility of a solution. Maybe they can overcome their political divide? Maybe it doesn't matter that much? Still....

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 2, 2025

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 2, 2025 

A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide gross. I begin with data from 

Comscore and then pull from every other source available. 

1. Ne Zha 2–$446m worldwide debut 

2. Detective Chinatown 1900–$260m worldwide debut 

3. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$128m ww debut 

4. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–$78m ww debut

5. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$60m ww debut 

6. Dog Man–$41m ww debut  

7. Operation Hadal–$34m / $35m ww total

8. Mufasa: The Lion King–$26m / $653m ww total 

9. Paddington in Peru–$20m / $93m ww

10. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$16m /$463m ww

11. Companion–$15m ww debut 

12. Moana 2–$11m / $1,037b ww 

13. Babygirl–$11m / $48m ww

14. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$10m / $50m ww

15. One of Them Days–$10m / $35m ww

16. Flight Risk–$9m / $25m ww 

17. Hitman2–$9m / $13m ww

18. Nosferatu–$6m / $172m ww

19. The Brutalist–$6m / $18m ww 

20. Conclave–$5m / $87m ww

21. Dark Nuns–$5m / $13m ww

22. A Complete Unknown–$4m / $78m ww

23. Presence–$4m / $7m ww 

24. Octopus With Broken Arms aka Wu Sha 3 (Manslaughter 3)–$3m / $133m ww

25. Wicked–$2m / $719m ww 

26. Honey Money Phony–$2m / $64m ww

27. Wolf Man–$2m / $30m ww 

28. Finist. The First Warrior–$2m / $26m ww

29. Better Man–$2m / $19m ww

30. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog–$3m / $5m ww total

31. Secret: Untold Melody–$2m ww debut 

32. Gladiator II–$1m / $461m ww

33. Big World–$1m / $110m ww

34. Harbin–$1m / $32m ww

35. Brave The Dark–$1m / $4m 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 

It's the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake is is supposed to be inauspicious. But a snake may become the new mascot for the worldwide box office thanks to the massive wave of moviegoers in China. From Wednesday January 29 through Sunday February 2, the Chinese box office alone grossed almost $1 BILLION. To be exact, it hit $965.4m. Wow. True, the Chinese gov't subsidized ticket sales by $83m, but that's less than 10% of the total gross over five days, so it was money well spent. 

And they did it the old fashioned way: lots of sequels! The third in the animated Ne Zha-verse, the fourth in a buddy comedy series, the second in a fantasy trilogy shot all at once a la Lord of the Rings, a fantasy based on a classic tale and the eleventh in the Boonie Bears kiddie franchise. This is very good news for the moribund Chinese box office; let's hope it keeps going.

Back in Hollywood, we've got an original film: the animated family flick Dog Man. Well, yes, it's based on a series of graphic novels (14 and counting) and yes it's a spin-off of the Captain Underpants graphic novels and yes that led to a hit film and a TV series and yes, it's true Dog Man has also spun-off another series of graphic novels called Cat Kid Comic Club and yes, you'd be placing a losing bet if you said they'd surely never turn that into a movie. But still, it's an original film! Sort of. Anyone who thinks Hollywood makes too many remakes and sequels and spin-offs based on pre-existing stories or that people are tiring of them need only refer to...the entire history of Hollywood, including the silent era. 

For Oscar hopefuls, The Brutalist and A Complete Unknown and Conclave are capitalizing on their nominations. Maybe Emilia Pérez is as well, but we won't know it's streaming numbers leading up to the Oscars for a few weeks. 

Oh and box office doesn't just come from massively budgeted tentpole films. A lot of smaller films are scoring at the box office, proving the talent of directors, building stars, giving a boost to writers and so on. Those numbers add up. So high praise for Dog Man grossing its budget on opening week, Paddington in Peru approaching $100m, Companion proving a commercial and artistic hit, Babygirl making clear it will triple its budget as it continues to play around the world, One of Them Days proving the same and Nosferatu and The Brutalist and Conclave and Soderbergh's Presence all proving hits. 

A Complete Unknown isn't there yet, but it's doing well and all of these films will over-perform once they hit the homes via streaming and rental and cable and on demand and yes BluRay and the like. Mid-sized and small budget movies are crucial to a healthy box office. Captain America: Brave New World will open strongly on Valentine's Day, but the box office isn't just sitting around waiting for a new blockbuster. It's revealing talent, creating hits and priming the pump for home entertainment. Anyone looking to shrink windows even further is being foolish. And anyone spending $100mb to make a movie and not giving them a theatrical release is losing out. Now let's wake up India and Korea!

NOTES 

mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide

1. Ne Zha 2–Reported $80mb. Chinese animated fantasy sequel to the 2019 smash which cost about $20m and grossed $743m. A spin-off film Jiang Ziya was hobbled by COVID but grossed $243m. Now the direct sequel Ne Zha 2 cost $80m and our spunky heroine (based on a famed mythological character around for centuries) takes on sea monsters. The series is based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin from the 16th century. 

2. Detective Chinatown 1900–$125mb at least? This is the fourth in a wildly popular buddy comedy mystery series. Think oh, Rush Hour? 48 Hours? Each film cost more than the one before and grossed more. Since we're on film #4 and it's a period movie set in San Francisco, it's safe to assume this cost more than the #3, which cost $117m and grossed $686m worldwide. I mean, $150mb is probably more realistic, at least. Assuming this doesn't collapse in week two, $500m and profitability is assured. Oh and clues in this one indicate the next film in the series will be set in London. So, Detective Chinatown 1920, here we come. 

3. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$110mb? Creation of the Gods is a live action fantasy trilogy that was shot all at once over an 18 month period, a la Lord of the Rings. Since the first part cost $110m, presumably parts two and three cost at least as much, though their initial releases were delayed because of time-consuming special effects. And guess what? Like Ne Zha 1 and 2, this too is based on Investiture of the Gods, making Ming dynasty author Xu Zhonglin the hottest scribe in town. Yes, there are a handful of English translations of the tales, but none of a single professional review and only one even has a handful of reader reviews, so I would be wary. And I'm still waiting for a good translation of the epic from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was drawn. 

4. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–No budget available. A wuxia martial arts period adventure film written and directed by the legendary Tsui Hark. It's based on part of the novel of the same name by Jin Yong. 

5. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$50mb? This once low budget animated franchise keeps getting bigger and bigger at the box office. Film #9 grossed $220m and #10 grossed $270m. 

6. Dog Man–A reported $40mb. It's always good to gross your budget on opening week. Plus, the books are funny, the reviews are good, the audience response is great and it has the rest of the world to open in. So get ready for Dog Man 2. 

7. Operation Hadal–$150mb. In director Dante Lam's Chinese action film, mercenaries have taken over a deep sea platform in Chinese waters and well, the Chinese Navy is not about to take that lying down.  It's a sequel to Operation Red Sea which cost $70m and grossed almost $600m. This cost twice as much and looks like it will struggle to gross half as much. Not good. 

8. Mufasa: The Lion King–$200mb 

9. Paddington in Peru–$50mb? I'm just guessing. (That's sort of midpoint between the original and Paddington 2.) Sadly, three times is not the charm artistically for this once-perfect franchise. This week the film had conflicting info. Comscore says the film grossed $6m this weekend...but the movie's overall take jumped by $23m from $60m to $83m? Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo claim its total jumped $13m to $73m. That extra $7m from Monday to Thursday is more believable so I'll go with that for now.

10. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$120mb 

11. Companion–A reported $10mb for this sci-fi horror comedy. Great reviews means this one should have a long run at the box office. 

12. Moana 2–Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first? Or higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost $150mb, just like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this.  

13. Babygirl–$20mb for this Nicole Kidman sexy drama about a powerful businesswoman finding her kink with a younger, dominating man..her intern, no less! No milk was harmed in the making of this movie. 

14. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$40mb for Gerard Butler action flick. 

15. One of Them Days–$14mb. It's always good to gross your budget during a film's opening week. So yea for producer Issa Rae and this comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA. (What a week for SZA! Her movie opens well and she makes my list of The 250 Best Albums of the 21st Century...So Far.

16. Flight Risk–$25mb for director Mel Gibson action film starring Mark Walhberg. 

17. Hitman2–Korean action comedy. The creator of a webtoon series is derided for the quality of his latest season...until real-life terrorists seem to mirror his storyline and he's suddenly under suspicion by the government. The original film grossed $18m. 

18. Nosferatu–$50mb for Robert Eggers, acclaimed director of The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. That had his biggest budget and was not a commercial success. I saw him as more of an arthouse guy. But backers stuck with him, gave him a big budget and a starry cast for a remake of Nosferatu, which I guess is classier than remaking Dracula but still a hard sell I thought. And on Christmas Day? That's counter-programming I was not behind. Happily, I was wrong and Eggers looks more like the next Peter Jackson/Guillermo Del Toro than a guy given big budgets too fast or for the wrong projects. Good for him! 

19. The Brutalist–$10mb; Adrien Brody in this architect-as-hero period drama. 

20. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means this is a hit. It's at $60m and still going strong, with a boost from potential Oscar noms. I do not see the point in putting it on PVOD and flooding the market with bootlegs while potentially harming box office. This is exactly the sort of film that can play and play in theaters.  

21. Dark Nuns–Korean supernatural thriller w two nuns working together to save a boy seemingly possessed by a demon while protecting the sanctity of their order. It's a spin-off of The Priests aka Black Priests, which came out in 2015 and grossed $36m. Why it took a decade to capitalize on the first film is a mystery itself. 

22. A Complete Unknown–$60mb+ for this Bob Dylan biopic? That's a lot of money for a film about Dylan going electric at Newport. I mean, I want to see it but then I'm a Dylan fanatic. Off to a very good start and star Timotheé Chalamet is sure to get an Oscar nomination, so it should keep going. But $180m worldwide seems highly unlikely to me, if not impossible. (Do other countries give a toss about this? Is Chalamet a big enough draw for this story? I doubt it.) I'm glad it was made, but it was made for too much. Like Gladiator II, this will be seen as a commercial success, but it's not. 

23. Presence–$2mb for retired director Steven Soderbergh's first of two movies out in 2025. 

24. Octopus With Broken Arms aka Wu Sha 3 (Manslaughter 3)–Chinese drama about businessman's daughter kidnapped from his home. 

25. Wicked–$150mb for each part, so $300mb total plus beaucoup marketing. It's a big movie! 

26. Honey Money Phony–Chinese rom-com about young woman suddenly burdened with debt who falls for a (very handsome) young con man. Will he go straight for her or teach her his wicked ways so she can get out from under this financial disaster? 

27. Wolf Man–$25mb 

28. Finist. The First Warrior–a Russian fantasy film starring actor Kirill Zaytsev as "the strongest, most agile, and handsome hero of Belogorye," according to Wikipedia. Zaytsev certainly fits the bill, though since Belogorye currently has fewer than 3000 people, that may not be such a major claim. Russians are surely starved for homegrown cinema; it's been a while since Russian films made the charts. But I couldn't even find a trailer for it on YouTube.

29. Better Man–$110mb!!! I just gasped when I saw the budget. Oh dear. I love the craziness of this movie. But that's a LOT of money for such a nutty idea. And forget the nutty idea. It's a musical biopic about an artist whose music I really like but has virtually no profile outside the UK. For heaven's sake, Queen is one of the biggest acts in the world and their biopic cost literally half of this one. Better Man would have been a big gamble at $30mb. 

30. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog–This German light mystery is the second live action film in a reboot of the teen investigators that are perennial favorites in kids lit in that country. It's spun-off from the series of books published in the 1960s-1980s in the US, all branded as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" but created by Robert Author, with the first nine books of 40+ in all also written by him. Basically, it's the Hardy Boys but with three kids instead of two. The series remains well known in Germany, where even more books were written to meet demand. And now it's a film series. 

31. Secret: Untold Melody–SK drama remake of a Taiwanese weepie about a pianist whose career is cut short by tragedy...but he finds comfort from a time-traveling woman. 

32. Gladiator II–$250mb for Ridley Scott sword and sandals epic. It needs $750m worldwide for me to call it a hit from theatrical alone but $600m would be just fine. It's got swords. It's got sandals. Does it have legs? No, it does not. This is the sort of film that everyone thinks of as a hit, but actually didn't deliver. The talk of Gladiator 3 is nonsense. Maybe many years from now they'll use the name to launch a new franchise, but this is the end for now. 

33. Big World–$29m ww debut. Chinese drama starring pop star and actor Jackson Yee as a young man living with cerebral palsy. Yee has gone from boyband TFBoys to having the Mandarin song of the year in 2017 to success in TV and film. How's his English, asks Hollywood? 

34. Harbin–A South Korean historical drama set in the early 1900s about rebels fighting against the Japanese occupation of Korea. When one rebel leader shows mercy to Japanese prisoners and his men pay the price, he vows to redeem himself by assassinating the first Prime Minister of Japan. So this one will probably not have a good run in Japan. 

35. Brave The Dark–no budget for presumably very low cost faith-based indie film about the importance of performing arts programs? 

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 each 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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