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. 

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