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.
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.
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.
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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