WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING MARCH 2, 2025
Here is 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. If you want to be added to this newsletter, email me at mgiltz@pipeline.com.
1. Ne Zha 2–$237m / $1.872b worldwide total
2. Captain America: Brave New World–$33m /$342m ww
3. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy–$24m / $97m ww
4. The Monkey–$17m / $38m ww
5. Chhaava–$16m / $70m ww
6. Detective Chinatown 1900–$15m / $477m ww
7. A Complete Unknown–$15m / $120m ww
8. Paddington in Peru–$14m / $164m ww
9. Mickey 17–$9m ww debut
10. Dog Man–$8m / $113m ww
11. Dragon–$8m / $13m ww
12. Last Breath–$8m ww debut
13. The Brutalist–$4m / $41m ww
14. Moana 2–$3m / $1,054b ww
15. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$3m /$486m ww
16. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$3m / $166m ww
17. Heart Eyes–$3m / $31m ww
18. I'm Still Here–$3m / $30m ww
19. The Unbreakable Boy–$3m / $5m ww
20. Mufasa: The Lion King–$2m / $702m ww
21. Conclave–$2m / $101m ww
22. One of Them Days–$2m / $48m ww
23. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn–$1m / $107m ww
24. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–$1m / $92m ww
25. Babygirl–$1m / $64m ww
26. Flight Risk–$1m / $43m ww
27. Companion–$1m / $34m ww
28. Love Hurts–$1m / $17m ww
29. Becoming Led Zeppelin–$1m / $10m ww
30. Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning–$1m / $2m
31. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX-Beginning–$1m / $TK?
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 Oscar weekend and ironically it's also the slowest weekend of the year for movie-going. Even slower than Super Bowl weekend? Is everyone at home working on their ballots for the Oscar pools? On the bright side, the Oscar shorts are grossing about $3m in North America from their theatrical screenings, so that's nice to see. My wishful thinking for Captain America: New World Order is over. Overseas looked like it might save Cap's bacon, but it's not to be. The Marvel flick took another disastrous tumble at the box office, so grossing another $140m to be a hit is not happening.
On the other hand, a slow week at the box office in North America (and really, around the world) means the Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 stays in the Top 10 for three weeks in a row, a rare feat for an international film.
Moana 2 made news because it's headed to streaming after 105 days in movie theaters. That's just three and a half months, but these days that seems stunningly patient. The head of the world's biggest theater chain AMC used its quarterly earnings report to insist 17 days and 30 days are crazy! And he hopes more studios will shift back to at least 45 days.
Hey, it's a slow week so there's not much to say!
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. Finally, I identify the country for non-Hollywood movies. And I indicate the language Indian films were made in to celebrate the country's diverse industry, which is vibrant and includes much more than the Hindi-language Bollywood Westerners knew best. Here goes.
Big Budget ($100mb+)
Detective Chinatown 1900 (China) ($125mb est)
Mid-sized budget ($21mb-$99mb)
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy ($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)
Dragon (Indian/Tamil) ($4mb)
I'm Still Here ($2mb)
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 we have the direct sequel Ne Zha 2, which cost $80m and finds our spunky heroine (based on a famed mythological character around for centuries) taking 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? Yes, it's only at $100m. But the film made $24m this week, so even if it drops by 50% next week and the week after and ends up at $120m, I'm calling it a hit. The more money it makes, the stupider they look for going straight to streaming in North America.
4. 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.
5. Chhaava–$15mb Indian/Hindi language action historical epic.
6. 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, but even at that level it's still a hit. 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.
7. 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. UPDATE: Well, it keeps going and going and maybe Chalamet is a worldwide draw now, thanks to Wonka and the Dune films and he can bring in people to a serious drama like this. More power to him. It's now at $120m and grossed an excellent $15m this week. If it gets close to $150m, I'll happily eat crow and call it a hit. It's already a good example of a movie that may not be technically profitable from box office alone but is clearly a financial success story that will be a valuable title in anyone's library, pulling in plenty via rentals and sales and cable and streaming and the like. Now where's the sequel where Dylan goes born again Christian? Or the spin-off telling the story of Joan Baez? Seriously, that one should be done like, now.
8. Paddington in Peru–$90mb? Sadly, three times is not the charm artistically or commercially for this once-perfect franchise.
9. Mickey 17–$120mb for director Bong Joon-ho's slapstick sci-fi comedy. Once again, a tip of the hat to actor Robert Pattinson for forging a very interesting career.
11. 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?
12. Last Breath–$24mb for this Nicolas Cage deep-sea diving drama.
13. The Brutalist–$10mb; Adrien Brody in this architect-as-hero period drama. I'm not a fan of the film but I am delighted to see any passion project this unlikely make money. Truly.
15. Sonic The Hedgehog 3–$120mb
16. 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. I'd really like to read the book, but until I learn Mandarin, it ain't happening. And I'm still waiting for a good translation of the epic from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was drawn.
18. I'm Still Here–this Brazilian Oscar contender has no reported budget, though one Portuguese article says $1.5m, which certainly sounds reasonable, so I'll call it at $2mb. It's a success even if it cost three times that.
19. The Unbreakable Boy–heartwarming family film about little boy who has a rare bone disease and autism, but also has a zest for life that wins over everyone.
20. Mufasa: The Lion King–$200mb.
21. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means this is a hit. This is exactly the sort of film that can play and play in theaters.
22. 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.)
23. 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. And then it all crashed back to earth with movie #11, which is topping out at about $110m, almost 60% lower than the last one. They won't lose money on this, but I'm taking it off my list of theatrical hits for the year. They need to lower the budget for #12 or give it a rest or something. I mean, none of them seem well reviewed, so quality isn't exactly the issue here. All good things come to an end.
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. According to one report it's the highest grossing wuxia film at the Chinese box office. That would mean it made more than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and every local box office hit. Mostly Hark would be competing with himself. His budgets bounce up and down, from the massive $200mb for both The Battle at Lake Changjin 1 and 2 (which he co-directed), and $60mb for some Detective Dee movies and down to $20mb or $30mb for various other flicks. So it's quite possible this is a hit, but without any reported budget, I am loathe to name it one. If they make a sequel, I'll then consider this one a hit! When they make more, surely a movie must be a winner.
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. Now one friend and various media stories go back and forth on Kidman and the seemingly endless streaming movies and miniseries and movies she's been making, most of them perhaps commercial but certainly not artistic hits. Is she nobly getting projects made when people need to work? Keeping herself a significant box office draw worldwide (such as with this sexy winner) at an age when many women used to find work difficult? Or tarnishing her significant cachet by turning out junk? I'll withhold judgment critically since I haven't actually watched many of her recent projects. But I would definitely say that commercially at least, Kidman is approaching her 60s in as bankable a spot as any woman–and more than most men–in Hollywood.
26. Flight Risk–$25mb for director Mel Gibson action film starring Mark Walhberg.
29. 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.
30. Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning–A Korean animated horror film about a priest partnering with magic-wielding monks to battle a demon and protect a child. We just don't get animated films like that in the U.S. Maybe Ralph Bakshi should have moved overseas to get his projects made?
31. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX-Beginning–$1m / $TK? This film is pulled from the first episode(s) of the new season of a long-running anime series. So it's probably all gravy and just good pr for the new season launch.
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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