WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 17, 2024

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 17, 2024

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. Gladiator II–$87m worldwide debut 

2. Red One–$55m / $82m ww total

3. Venom: The Last Dance–$42m / $436m ww

4. The Wild Robot–$17m / $309m ww

5. Heretic–$12m / $28m ww

6. Paddington in Peru–$12m / $24m ww 

7. To Gather Around aka Sheng Quan Zai Wo–$11m ww debut 

8. Amaran–$9m / $33m ww

9. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$9m / $20m ww

10. Kanguva–$9m ww debut 

11. Smile 2–$8m / $132m ww 

12. Anora–$8m / $20m ww 

13. Terrifier 3–$7m / $85m ww

14. Cesium Fallout–$7m / $32m ww

15. Conclave–$6m / $28m ww 

16. We Live In Time–$5m / $29m ww 

17. The Substance–$4m / $51m ww 

18. The Untold Story–$4m / $15m ww

19. The Young Couple Apartment–$4m / $11m ww

20. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince–$3m / $937m ww 

21. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–$3m / $42m ww

22. I'm Still Here–$3m / $4m ww 

23. Here–$2m / $12m ww 

24. Small Things Like These–$2m / $4m ww 

25. Hear Me: Our Summer–$2m / $4m ww

26. A Real Pain–$2m / $3m ww 

27. Hello, Love, Again–$2m ww debut 

28. Her Story aka Hao Dong Xi -- $1.5m ww debut

29. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$1m / $451m ww 

30. Joker: Folie à Deux–$1m / $206m ww 

31. Singham Again–$1m / $42m ww

32. Road to Ninja: Naruto The Movie–$1m / $22m 

33. The Apprentice -- $1m / $12 ww

34. Amazon Bullseye–$1m / $4m ww 

35. Absolution–$1m / $3m ww

36. Elevation–$1m / $2m ww

37. Devils Stay–$1m ww debut 

Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's a good marker to indicate a big hit. 

ANALYSIS 

Ok, now it's getting serious. The North American box office needs $1.3b just to cross the $8b mark for the year. That would be a reasonable goal given how few films have opened. (We'll be down 25% in wide releases so box office will likely be down 25%, if we're lucky.) The problem with this thinking is that fewer movies allow people to get out of the habit entirely. Well, that won't be much of a problem for the rest of the year. We're going to have big movies most every week from now through New Year's. 

Up first? Red One. This would be Christmas action-comedy wants to be a staple like Die Hard. It opened poorly (though audiences liked it) and analysts can't decide if they should call it a flop or grade on a curve because Amazon doesn't care about box office. Uh huh. First, when you spend $250mb on an action film starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, you'd be crazy not to give it a theatrical release. Look how much more valuable Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be for years to come thanks to being a worldwide smash (and a hit, based on its more modest budget). Are folks saying if Red One went straight to streaming it would be a winner? If people don't like a movie, avoiding a theatrical release won't make them like it more. But let's not jump the gun. The movie looks like it won't do that well. Still, it's got a long way to go and maybe the Christmas theme will give it unexpected legs. The audience scores are fine. Declaring a movie dead on opening week (or two) doesn't always make sense. Nonetheless, when you spend that much money on a big action film, it better  work theatrically. And sending it straight to your streamer won't hide that fact. So a flop is a flop. 

Also, folks are calling this the first Christmas-themed major studio release since 2018. Well, it's certainly the first $250mb Christmas-themed movie by anyone ever. But let's not forget 2019's Last Christmas (the romantic drama that took the Wham! hit's lyrics way too literally) or 2022's Violent Night, from Universal with David Harbour as a kick ass Santa. Both were hits and cost about $30mb, which is a decent budget historically for a holiday themed film. Just saying. 

Gladiator II has made exactly the same amount worldwide and it cost the same amount. It's also been indifferently received by critics, yet no one is rushing to declare it D.O.A. I guess it helps when part I won the Best Picture Oscar. We shall see....

I'm thrilled for the success of Anora, one of the best films of the year. It and Conclave are both performing very well but I just like Anora more. (Sorry.) Things are really heating up with Wicked next week and Moana 2: The TV Series Turned Movie the week after that. Thanksgiving should be very interesting. 

Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Currently, North American box office is at $6.3b, with Thanksgiving and Christmas to go. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory. 

NOTES 

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

1. Gladiator II–$250mb (?) for Ridley Scott sword and sandals epic. Whether you think it cost $200mb or $250mb, it's going to be a tough haul for this film to cross $600m worldwide. It's got swords. It's got sandals. Does it have legs? 

2. Red One–Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans action/Xmas comedy. A budget reportedly up to $250mb. 

3. Venom: The Last Dance–$120m reported budget, so even if it collapses quickly, this one will be a winner. With Venom 1 hitting $850m and Venom 2 at just $500m, this is an old school franchise where each new entry seeing less and less interest. They were right to call it a day after #3, clearly. 

4. The Wild Robot–$80mb. Ha! Based on prior films from DreamWorks Animation I guessed this film's budget was around $80mb. And Wikipedia now says its roughly $78mb. I rounded up $2m so I could be right on the dot (plus, the math is easier when tripling).

5. Heretic–reported $10mb horror flick starring Hugh Grant as a gent more than willing to invite two Mormons into his home to debate religious beliefs. 

6. 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 for this once-perfect franchise.

7. To Gather Around aka Sheng Quan Zai Wo–Chinese drama about workplace politics. The Chinese title is literally translated as "Guaranteed Victory." In English, it's also referred to as "Brave New World." 

8. Amaran–Indian/Tamil action film. The budget is anything from $15mb to $24mb which is a huge range but I'll err on the side of caution. One of three big films that opened during Diwali festival. 

9. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$10mb for this holiday faith-based film based on the gentle 1972 novel. It's a more religiousy A Christmas Story. 

10. Kanguva–Tamil action film reportedly $35-40m. Hugely elaborate via the trailer, with two timelines: one a millennia ago and another in the present. Whatever's going on, our hero is not a reluctant warrior. 

11. Smile 2–a $28mb, which is a reasonable jump over the $17mb of the original Smile. That film grossed $217m worldwide. This won't get near that, but it doesn't need to do so.

12. Anora–no budget for Sean Baker's latest. But since the most he ever got before is $2mb, I'm assuming this isn't that much. It's opened pretty wide already, so I guess a real platform throughout awards season won't happen? A shame not to let this play into March 2025 where Conan O'Brien can give Anora her flowers. Still, it's already doubling The Florida Project, which made $11m off a $1mb. 

13. Terrifier 3 -- a $2mb! Success, thy name is cheap horror films.

14. Cesium Fallout–Hong Kong disaster flick starring Andy Lau. A radioactive leak threatens the island. 

15. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means they're likely to have a hit right off the bat. It's at $28m and still going strong, with a boost from potential Oscar noms, assuming they don't rush it to streaming. 

16. We Live In Time–Andrew Garfield/Florence Pugh drama about a decades-spanning romance. Looks like another sleeper success for director John Crowley a la Brooklyn. 

17. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback. So I guess despite
all the back and forth on its grosses, this really is a winner now. In a Nov. 17, 2024 story for Deadline extolling the film's success and the streamer MUBI, they claim the film has a worldwide gross of $66.5m. 

18. The Untold Story–Chinese romance about lovers separated by death. A literal translation of the Chinese title would be The Unknown Story. 

19. The Young Couple Apartment–Chinese film, perhaps a remake of 1987 Chinese film about lives of six young couples all living in same apartment building. 

20. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince–the gang is back in action, at least in China where all eight Potter movies are being reissued, one a week. The later films seem to be grossing around $5m total, so this was hardly worth the bother, unfortunately. Before hitting China, the final films grossed the folllowing: Deathly Hallows I at $977m; Deathly Hallows II at $1.342b. 

21. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–Indian/Hindi supernatural comedy about a fake ghostbuster. The budget is $18mb. Part 2 made $32m ww total so this needs to do almost twice as much to be a hit from box office alone.

22. I'm Still Here–director Walter Salles drama about a Brazilian woman searching for her missing husband during the dictatorship of Brazil that lasted more than 20 years. Brazil's Oscar hopeful enjoyed acclaim and awards at Venice. 

23. Here–a reported $50mb? My foot! Robert Zemeckis. Tom Hanks. Robin Wright. That's $50m right there, practically! Still, even if it did cost $50m and they all took scale for a big backend, this still doesn't look to be profitable. But maybe they'll love it overseas! That's why you bring in stars like Tom Hanks. Though I imagine few will cross the uncanny valley. 

24. Small Things Like These–low budget Cillian Murphy drama about worker faced with knowledge of nuns treating young women abusively. Backed by Ben Affleck/Matt Damon production company. 

25. Hear Me: Our Summer–Korean romance about a super-cute hearing impaired young woman and a super-cute delivery boy falling for each other. 

26. A Real Pain–drama about two cousins on a trip to Poland to honor their late grandmother and tour Holocaust  memorials. Written, directed and starring Jesse Eisenberg w Kieran Culkin as his more free-spirited relative. 

27. Hello, Love, Again–Filipino sequel to Hello, Love, Goodbye from 2019. Debuting w more than $2m at the North American box office, it's notable as the rare Filipino to even get a commercial release in the US. 

The original grossed $17m worldwide, at the time making it the highest grossing Filipino film of all time. 

28. Her Story aka Hao Dong Xi --Chinese drama, literally translated as "Nice One." Single mom moves in with another single gal; adventures ensue. 

29. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–a reported $100mb and good audience response means this is a winner right off the bat. Hardly a slam dunk, by the way. The original came out almost 35 years ago and only grossed $78m worldwide.  So the sequel cost more than the entire first film's worldwide gross! That's not a recipe for success, normally. But the original only cost $15mb to make and everyone knew it enjoyed a long afterlife, thanks to tv reruns, Halloween, the Broadway musical and so on. Still, gamble it was and the gamble paid off. 

30. Joker: Folie à Deux–a reported $190mb. This won't come close to $600m worldwide, so I'm afraid it's a flop. I think I announced in advance it would do very, very poorly. But I would never have guessed it would struggle to pass $200m ww. 

31. Singham Again–Indian/Hindi action film w a $42mb. Fifth in Cop Universe franchise. Last film made $32m. This budget is five times bigger than Singham Return's $8mb. 

32. Road to Ninja: Naruto The Movie– 2012 Japanese anime reissued in China. It was at $18m worldwide before its reissue in China in 2024. 

33. The Apprentice -- with a $16mb, you can spin this either way politically. Liberals can say people didn't want to see the film because they're sick and tired of Trump. So he'll lose. Right wingers can say people didn't want to see a film that criticized in any way their beloved ruler. So he'll win. Both side-ism! 

34. Amazon Bullseye–Korean sports comedy w a one-time archery medalist recruiting Amazon people w amazing archery skills and brings them back to Korea. Hilarity ensues. 

35. Absolution–yet another Liam Neeson action film. This time he's a tired, aging gangster who wants out. 

36. Elevation–reported $18mb for sci-fi action film starring Anthony Mackie. Man and two women determined to rescue little boy. 

37. Devils Stay–Korean horror film. Young woman dies after exorcism, but her heart specialist father thinks she's still alive. 

THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED 

This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office. 

ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart

The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever, depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend and focusing on new releases? 

How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic info. 

First, I list box office on every film we can from around the world. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here if we get info on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. That's followed by notes where I give info on every movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can. 

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WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 10, 2024

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 10, 2024

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. Venom: The Last Dance–$77m / $394m worldwide total 

2. Red One–$27m worldwide debut

3. The Wild Robot–$23m / $292m ww 

4. Singham Again–$19m / $41m ww

5. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–$19m  / $39m ww

6. Heretic–$16m ww debut 

7. Smile 2–$14m / $124m ww 

8. Cesium Fallout–$12m / $25m ww

9. Paddington in Peru–$12m ww debut 

10. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$11m ww debut 

11. The Untold Story–$11m ww debut 

12. Amaran–$9m / $24m ww

13. Conclave–$7m / $22m ww 

14. Anora–$6m / $12m ww 

15. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$5m / $450m ww

16. Here–$5m / $10m ww 

17. The Substance–$4m / $47m ww

18. The Young Couple Apartment–$3.5m / $7m ww

19. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix–$3m / $945m ww 

20. Joker: Folie à Deux–$3m / $205m ww

21. Terrifier 3–$3m / $78m ww 

22. Road to Ninja: Naruto The Movie–$3m / $21m 

23. We Live In Time–$2m / $24m ww 

24. Small Things Like These–$2m ww debut

25. Hear Me: Our Summer–$2m ww debut

26. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire–$1m / $902m ww 

27. It Ends With Us–$1m / $349m ww

28. Transformers One–$1m / $129m ww 

29. The Forge–$1m / $40m ww

30. The Apprentice -- $1m / $11 ww

31. Look Back–$1m / $7m ww 

32. Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom–$1m / $7m ww 

33. Amazon Bullseye–$1m / $3m ww 

34. Absolution–$1m / $2m ww

35. Elevation–$1m ww debut

36. Leon–$1m ww 

37. 1984–$1m ww debut 

38. I'm Still Here–$1m ww debut

Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's a good marker to indicate a big hit. 

ANALYSIS 

Venom: The Last Dance is still living it up worldwide. This week it makes $77m and passes the $400m mark worldwide. The competition is about to get fierce, so it's probably going to fall hard now. But since Venom made $856m and Venom 2 made $507m, seeing the third in a poorly reviewed, unexpectedly successful franchise probably end up close to $500m as well is a big win. Plus the price is right at $120m though presumably Tom Hardy is reaping the rewards. Writer-director Kelly Marcel delivered the goods commercially. 

It's weird to think of a Christmas action flick franchise. But that's the idea behind Red One starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans. I mean, you might as well zig when others zag since people wanting a holiday action film can't watch Die Hard all the time. This is clearly off to a very poor start. given its massive budget. Someone will start yelling about the dangers of launching a new franchise with no big IP, but where else are original films supposed to come from? 

Meanwhile, The Wild Robot can expect one or two sequels. They've got that many books at least, to build on. 

China and Korea remained slumbering but India had a good week. All three films of the big films that launched during Diwali enjoyed strong holds. Unfortunately, Singham Again is so expensive at $42mb, it's unlikely to be a hit. But the Tamil actioner Amaran is already a winner and another good week will make the Hindi language supernatural comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 a winner as well. 

Hugh Grant is having fun (as he has for years, to those paying attention), classing up the horror flick Heretic and popping up with an uncredited cameo in Paddington in Peru. Unfortunately, the perfection of Paddington 2–as expected–was not matched with Paddington in Peru. That shouldn't stop this threequel from being a hit, but since I don't know the budget let's wait to see how it shapes up first. Match or exceed the second and it'll be a safe bet as having succeeded. 

I imagine the box office performance of Here starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wrights gives studio execs nightmares. Two notable stars, a very commercial director, crowd-pleasing sentimentality and yet people just ran in the opposite direction. You never know, but sometimes the audience does, instinctively.

NOTE: L'amour Ouf aka Beating Hearts was at $27m as of the week ending November 3, 2024. It made $11m that week. And now it's off the charts entirely? After a great hold? This makes no sense.  I'll see if it pops up in any worldwide coverage, but shenanigans may be taking place by inventive producers. Shenanigans, I say!

This is what I wrote about it last week: In France and Belgium, L'Amour Ouf, one of the worst reviewed films in competition at Cannes, is doing well. It made $11m last week and another $11m this week, which is great. One problem: the budget is a reported $39mb. (Why, I have no idea. It's about a decades-long romance between wrong side of the track teenagers.)

Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Currently, North American box office is at $6.3b, with Thanksgiving and Christmas to go. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory. 

NOTES 

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

1. Venom: The Last Dance–$120m reported budget, so even if it collapses quickly, this one will be a winner. With Venom 1 hitting $850m and Venom 2 at just $500m, this is an old school franchise where each new entry seeing less and less interest. They were right to call it a day after #3, clearly. 

2. Red One–Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans action/Xmas comedy. A budget reportedly up to $250mb. 

3. The Wild Robot–$80mb. Ha! Based on prior films from DreamWorks Animation I guessed this film's budget was around $80mb. And Wikipedia now says its roughly $78mb. I rounded up $2m so I could be right on the dot (plus, the math is easier when tripling).

4. Singham Again–Indian/Hindi action film w a $42mb. Fifth in Cop Universe franchise. Last film made $32m. This budget is five times bigger than Singham Return's $8mb. 

5. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–Indian/Hindi supernatural comedy about a fake ghostbuster. The budget is $18mb. Part 2 made $32m ww total so this needs to do almost twice as much to be a hit from box office alone. 

6. Heretic–reported $10mb horror flick starring Hugh Grant as a gent more than willing to invite two Mormons into his home to debate religious beliefs. 

7. Smile 2–a $28mb, which is a reasonable jump over the $17mb of the original Smile. That film grossed $217m worldwide. This won't get near that, but it doesn't need to do so. 

8. Cesium Fallout–Hong Kong disaster flick starring Andy Lau. A radioactive leak threatens the island. 

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 for this once-perfect franchise. 

10. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$10mb for this holiday faith-based film based on the gentle 1972 novel. It's a more religiousy A Christmas Story. 

11. The Untold Story–Chinese romance about lovers separated by death. A literal translation of the Chinese title would be The Unknown Story. 

12. Amaran–Indian/Tamil action film. The budget is anything from $15mb to $24mb which is a huge range but I'll err on the side of caution. One of three big films that opened during Diwali festival. 

13. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means they're likely to have a hit right off the bat. But I don't want to jump the gun on a film at $22m and needing $60m for me to bless it as a theatrical winner. In any case, it's sure to be profitable and a good addition to someone's library. But is it really an Oscar hopeful?  I have my doubts but it's been a weak year.... 

14. Anora–no budget for Sean Baker's latest. The total is for several weeks in limited release, of course. But it hit the Top 10 in North America with $886k and another $100k plus in the UK so I'm calling it as $1m ww this week. Small movies can be difficult for me to track, but this genuine Oscar hopeful will one imagines become Baker's top-grosser to date when all is said and done. 

15. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–a reported $100mb and good audience response means this is a winner right off the bat. Hardly a slam dunk, by the way. The original came out almost 35 years ago and only grossed $78m worldwide.  So the sequel cost more than the entire first film's worldwide gross! That's not a recipe for success, normally. But the original only cost $15mb to make and everyone knew it enjoyed a long afterlife, thanks to tv reruns, Halloween, the Broadway musical and so on. Still, gamble it was and the gamble paid off. 

16. Here–a reported $50mb? My foot! Robert Zemeckis. Tom Hanks. Robin Wright. That's $50m right there, practically! Still, even if it did cost $50m and they all took scale for a big backend, this still doesn't look to be profitable. But maybe they'll love it overseas! That's why you bring in stars like Tom Hanks. Though I imagine few will cross the uncanny valley. 

17. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback. 

18. The Young Couple Apartment–Chinese film, perhaps a remake of 1987 Chinese film about lives of six young couples all living in same apartment building. 

19. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix–the gang is back in action, at least in China where all eight Potter movies are being reissued, one a week. The later films seem to be grossing around $5m, so this was hardly worth the bother, unfortunately. Before hitting China, the final films grossed the folllowing: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix now at $942m; Half Blood Prince at $934m; Deathly Hallows I at $977m; Deathly Hallows II at $1.342b. 

20. Joker: Folie à Deux–a reported $190mb. This won't come close to $600m worldwide, so I'm afraid it's a flop. I think I announced in advance it would do very, very poorly. But I would never have guessed it would struggle to pass $200m ww. 

21. Terrifier 3 -- $23m ww debut on a $2mb! Success, thy name is cheap horror films. 

22. Road to Ninja: Naruto The Movie– 2012 Japanese anime reissued in China. It was at $18m worldwide before its reissue in China in 2024. 

23. We Live In Time–Andrew Garfield/Florence Pugh drama about a decades-spanning romance. Looks like another sleeper success for director John Crowley a la Brooklyn. 

24. Small Things Like These–low budget Cillian Murphy drama about worker faced with knowledge of nuns treating young women abusively. Backed by Ben Affleck/Matt Damon production company. 

25. Hear Me: Our Summer–Korean romance about a super-cute hearing impaired young woman and a super-cute delivery boy falling for each other. 

26. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire–see #19. 

27. It Ends With Us–a $25mb reported budget means this was a monster win, yet one of the most fraught success stories around.  

28. Transformers One–a reported $75mb per the trades, though Animation Magazine has a nice feature with the director and producer and offers up $147m for the budget, which is interestingly specific. So, there's that. 

29. The Forge–this faith-based film did better in its second week? Success! Reported $5mb.

30. The Apprentice -- with a $16mb, you can spin this either way politically. Liberals can say people didn't want to see the film because they're sick and tired of Trump. So he'll lose. Right wingers can say people didn't want to see a film that criticized in any way their beloved ruler. So he'll win. Both side-ism! 

31. Look Back–Chinese animated film about two girls who bond over their love of manga and work on one together. 

32. Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom–Japanese anime based on "light novel" about player trapped in video game when the online, multiplayer role-playing game is shut down and he is seemingly transported to the world of the game in the form of his avatar.

33. Amazon Bullseye–Korean sports comedy w a one-time archery medalist recruiting Amazon people w amazing archery skills and brings them back to Korea. Hilarity ensues. 

34. Absolution–yet another Liam Neeson action film. This time he's a tired, aging gangster who wants out. 

35. Elevation–reported $18mb for sci-fi action film starring Anthony Mackie. Man and two women determined to rescue little boy. 

36. Leon–on China's box office chart. No info. 

37. 1984–Chinese drama. No clear info available, though I'm pretty sure it's not based on the George Orwell novel. 

38. I'm Still Here–director Walter Salles drama about a Brazilian woman searching for her missing husband during the dictatorship of Brazil that lasted more than 20 years. Brazil's Oscar hopeful enjoyed acclaim and awards at Venice. 

NOTE: L'Amour Ouf– aka Beating Hearts. A reported $39mb. Off the charts. See Analysis. Translates as literally "Love, Phew" but in English they're calling it Beating Hearts. A Belgian drama about teen lovers torn apart by gang violence. In competition at Cannes, but widely panned as the worst of the bunch. But in France and Belgium, it had a sensational hold, grossing $11m two weeks in a row so maybe this will pay off.

THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED 

This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office. 

ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart

The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever, depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend and focusing on new releases? 

How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic info. 

First, I list box office on every film we can from around the world. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here if we get info on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. That's followed by notes where I give info on every movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can. 

--30--    

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 3, 2024

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 3, 2024

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

1. Venom: The Last Dance–$142m / $317m worldwide total

2. The Wild Robot–$37m / $269m ww

3. Smile 2–$26m / $110m ww 

4. Terrifier 3–$22m / $75m ww 

5. Singham Again–$22m worldwide debut 

6. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–$20 ww debut 

7. Amaran–$15m ww debut

8. The Unseen Sister–$13m / $23m ww 

9. Cesium Fallout–$13m ww debut 

10. L'amour Ouf aka Beating Hearts–$11m / $27m

11. We Live In Time–$10m / $22m ww 

12. Conclave–$8m / $15m ww 

13. Juror No. 2–$5m ww debut 

14. Here–$5m ww debut 

15. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire–$4m / $901m ww 

16. Transformers One–$4m / $128m ww

17. The Substance–$4m / $43m ww

18. Anora–$4m / $6m ww

19. The Young Couple Apartment–$3.5m ww debut 

20. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$3m / $445m ww 

21. The Apprentice -- $3m / $10 ww

22. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–$2m / $165m

23. Look Back–$2m / $6m ww 

24. Amazon Bullseye–$2m ww debut

25. I Am The Secret In Your Heart–$2m ww debut 

26. Deadpool & Wolverine–$1m / $1.338b ww

27. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban–$1m / $813m ww

28. It Ends With Us–$1m / $348m ww 

29. Joker: Folie à Deux–$1m / $202m ww 

30. High Forces–$1m / $42m ww 

31. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–$1m / $42m ww 

32. The Forge–$1m / $39m ww 

33. Love in the Big City -- $1m / $6m ww

34. A Normal Family–$1m / $4m ww

35. Absolution–$1m ww debut

36. Leon–$1m 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 

Venom: The Last Dance is enjoying a strong run at the worldwide box office, thanks to no competition in North America and a very healthy run in China. That's exactly how Hollywood should see the fickle, sometimes impenetrable market of China. It's not the goal and can't be catered too, since you are never guaranteed a release, much less easy access to any profits. So keep it in mind and if the movie plays there, great! Just don't depend on it. 

The Wild Robot is showing great legs, as expected. It is absurd for DreamWorks to be marketing it online when they should let this play and play. It actually grew at the North American box office this week. Horror flicks like Smile 2 and Terrifier 3 are printing money, with Hugh Grant in Heretic coming up next. But in 2025, they will finally hit maximum horror with too many titles scheduled to come out. 

In India, the Diwali holiday was an excuse for three big films to come out: Singham Again, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Amaran all hit theaters as broad appeal flicks (the first an action flick, the second a supernatural comedy, the third another action flick). They'll each need to show good legs to be considered hits, because all films represent pretty big budgets. But at least Bollywood (the home of the first two Hindi language films and the sleepiest of India's powerhouse film hubs) is showing signs of life. Did they spend too much money to do it? We'll probably know by next week. 

In France and Belgium, L'Amour Ouf, one of the worst reviewed films in competition at Cannes, is doing well. It made $11m last week and another $11m this week, which is great. One problem: the budget is a reported $39mb. (Why, I have no idea. It's about a decades-long romance between wrong side of the track teenagers.)

In North America, Conclave had a solid hold, though I still don't see it as Oscar bait. But the new Robert Zemeckis film Here reuniting Tom Hanks and Robin Wright from Forrest Gump was D.O.A., pleasing neither critics nor audiences. (The graphic novel it's based on is terrific, though.) Still, Zemeckis is always pushing technology and anyone who made Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Beatlemania delight I Wanna Hold Your Hand can rest easy. 

Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood's new directorial effort slunk into theaters (they didn't even report grosses). Netflix is taking it to streaming but promised an Oscar qualifying run. The joke is on them since it's one of his better reviewed movies and might easily have minted some money for the streamer. And pay attention to We Live In Time. It's a weepie and showing good traction. 

Piece by Piece opened on October 11 and quickly ran out of steam. Eighteen days later it was available premium online. I'd be fine with it available for basic rental one month after it was released. It's down to 500 screens and grossing about $350,000. Can't everyone agree when exhibitors are done showing a movie and it's falling fast that studios can and should capitalize on the marketing to make it available online? And when a movie like The Wild Robot is showing legs, they should not push it online. Is that so hard? 

Anora is positioned like a classic of its type at the box office–an Oscar-hopeful, platforming wonder. If we're lucky, the movie will play and play and we'll be talking about it for months to come. 

NOTE: More shenanigans around The Substance? Two weeks ago, the worldwide total was $42m. Last week, suddenly folks are saying $42m? Oh, we meant $39m. This week? It's back to $43m. Go figure. 

Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Currently, North American box office is at $6.3b, with Thanksgiving and Christmas to go. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory. 

NOTES 

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

1. Venom: The Last Dance–$120m reported budget, so even if it collapses quickly, this one will be a winner. With Venom 1 hitting $850m and Venom 2 at just $500m, this is an old school franchise where each new entry seeing less and less interest. They were right to call it a day after #3, clearly. 

2. The Wild Robot–$80mb. Ha! Based on prior films from DreamWorks Animation I guessed this film's budget was around $80mb. And Wikipedia now says its roughly $78mb. I rounded up $2m so I could be right on the dot (plus, the math is easier when tripling).

3. Smile 2–a $28mb, which is a reasonable jump over the $17mb of the original Smile. That film grossed $217m worldwide. With this one grossing well over the film's budget on opening weekend, it's a clear box office winner. I would LOVE someone to develop a quick and easy guide to how wide a film opens worldwide. A simple pie chart showing what percentage of the worldwide market a movie has already opened in would be awesome. Smile 2 grossed $23m from North America alone. That's about, what, 20% of the worldwide market? With China another 17%? 15%? (Even if a movie never opens there or expects to make much less or nothing in that market.) Smile 2 opened in 36 countries. But Kuwait, the Netherlands and Ukraine (!) probably don't add up to 1% of the worldwide market. Is this opening 40% of the worldwide total? 60%? I don't know but it would be very useful to measure this based on the previous year's worldwide box office and the contributions of each market. Anyway, Smile 2 will certainly  hit $84m worldwide even if it collapses hard and is a hit. 

4. Terrifier 3 -- $23m ww debut on a $2mb! Success, thy name is cheap horror films. 

5. Singham Again–Indian/Hindi action film w a $42mb. Fifth in Cop Universe franchise. Last film made $32m. This budget is five times bigger than Singham Return's $8mb. 

6. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–Indian/Hindi supernatural comedy about a fake ghostbuster. The budget is $18mb. Part 2 made $32m ww total so this needs to do almost twice as much to be a hit from box office alone. 

7. Amaran–Indian/Tamil action film. The budget is anything from $15mb to $24mb which is a huge range but I'll err on the side of caution. One of three big films that opened during Diwali festival. 

8. The Unseen Sister–a Chinese drama that I think is about a successful actress whose sister comes back into her life after many years off the radar. It's based on a novel and the Chinese title is Qiaoyan's Thoughts so naturally it's been changed for Western audiences so people don't have to stumble over how to pronounce the name Qiaoyan. On my podcast I always strove to hear a proper pronunciation and did my best, but that habit fell by the wayside. But I looked it up and the phonetic way to say the same seems to be Chow-yune. 

9. Cesium Fallout–Hong Kong disaster flick starring Andy Lau. A radioactive leak threatens the island. 

10. L'Amour Ouf–a reported $39mb. Tranlsates as literally "Love, Phew" but translated as Beating Hearts. A Belgian drama about teen lovers torn apart by gang violence. In competition at Cannes, but widely panned as the worst of the bunch. But in France and Belgium, it had a sensational hold, grossing $11m two weeks in a row so maybe this will pay off. 

11. We Live In Time–Andrew Garfield/Florence Pugh drama about a decades-spanning romance. Looks like another sleeper success for director John Crowley a la Brooklyn. 

12. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means they're likely to have a hit right off the bat. Give it another week and we'll know for sure. Is it really an Oscar hopeful? I have my doubts but it's been a weak year.... 

13. Juror No. 2–roughly $35mb for director Clint Eastwood's newest drama.

14. Here–a reported $50mb? My foot! Robert Zemeckis. Tom Hanks. Robin Wright. That's $50m right there, practically!

15. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire–the reissue in China for all the films brought in $4 on the opening week for this entry...and that neatly put it over $900m ww. Here are the rest of the films in the franchise and where they stand before their reissue: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix now at $942m; Half Blood Prince at $934m; Deathly Hallows I at $977m; Deathly Hallows II at $1.342b 

16. Transformers One–a reported $75mb per the trades, though Animation Magazine has a nice feature with the director and producer and offers up $147m for the budget, which is interestingly specific. So, there's that. 

17. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback. 

18. Anora–no budget for Sean Baker's latest. The total is for several weeks in limited release, of course. But it hit the Top 10 in North America with $886k and another $100k plus in the UK so I'm calling it as $1m ww this week. Small movies can be difficult for me to track, but this genuine Oscar hopeful will one imagines become Baker's top-grosser to date when all is said and done. 

19. The Young Couple Apartment–Chinese film, perhaps a remake of 1987 Chinese film about lives of six young couples all living in same apartment building. 

20. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–a reported $100mb and good audience response means this is a winner right off the bat. Hardly a slam dunk, by the way. The original came out almost 35 years ago and only grossed $78m worldwide.  So the sequel cost more than the entire first film's worldwide gross! That's not a recipe for success, normally. But the original only cost $15mb to make and everyone knew it enjoyed a long afterlife, thanks to tv reruns, Halloween, the Broadway musical and so on. Still, gamble it was and the gamble paid off. 

21. The Apprentice -- with a $16mb, you can spin this either way politically. Liberals can say people didn't want to see the film because they're sick and tired of Trump. So he'll lose. Right wingers can say people didn't want to see a film that criticized in any way their beloved ruler. So he'll win. Both side-ism! 

22. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–a sequel to China's 2023's The Volunteers: To The War, which launched this trilogy about China's involvement in the Korean War (or "police action," if you accept the Orwellian description of the US government). The first film was a reported $85mb, so presumably the sequel is the same? Director Chen Kaige already made two films about just one battle in the Korean War: The Battle at Lake Changjin I and II. They were shot back-to-back and cost a reported $200mb. Together they grossed a massive $1.5 billion worldwide. No wonder they greenlit a three-quel! This time, they spent at least 13 months filming, so surely that means they shot the entire trilogy in one fell swoop. But I bet the budget has been cut in thirds, for reporting purposes so it doesn't seem so big. The total is $240m or so for three films, I believe, which seems reasonable compared to $200mb for two films that proved such massive hits. But who the heck knows? I'm making a lot of guesses here. According to my Showbiz Sandbox notes from last year, The Volunteers: To The War topped out at about $120m worldwide. Needless to say, that's a stunning drop from the $900m the first in the Lake duology grossed. This one is almost out of steam at $165m. A big gamble that did not pay off, since they'll be lucky to double the budget at the box office. 

23. Look Back–Chinese animated film about two girls who bond over their love of manga and work on one together. 

24. Amazon Bullseye–Korean sports comedy w a one-time archery medalist recruiting Amazon people w amazing archery skills and brings them back to Korea. Hilarity ensues. 

25. I Am The Secret In Your Heart–Taiwanese film of young romance, sneak preview in China before 11-9 open.

26. Deadpool & Wolverine– a $200mb is just fine when you're the highest grossing R-rated film in history. 

27.  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban–all of the films seem to be grossing between $6m and at the maximum $12m, so this is just a modest addition to hugely profitable films. 

28. It Ends With Us–a $25mb reported budget means this was a monster win, yet one of the most fraught success stories around. 

29. Joker: Folie à Deux–a reported $190mb. This won't come close to $600m worldwide, so I'm afraid it's a flop. I think I announced in advance it would do very, very poorly. But I would never have guessed it would struggle to pass $200m ww. 

30. High Forces–it's Die Hard in a plane! Sort of. (Remember when every action film was Die Hard in...? Those were the days.) In this Hong Kong action film Andy Lau stars as a cop who accidentally blinded his daughter when stopping a jewel robbery. His marriage ends and he quits the force to work as a security expert. Years later, Lau boards the ultra-luxury Airbus A380, only to see his wife and daughter on board  Hijackers take off the plane and start killing off passengers in economy (Man, you really should have upgraded.) Lau takes them on, with his blind daughter somehow secretly providing him intel to defeat the baddies. If it's set during Christmas time, I'll say Yipee-kiyay! The film is set for a North American release. 

31. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–a new Jackie Chan comedy in which he rescues a (CGI-generated) panda. Hilarity and heartwarming moments ensue in this family oriented action comedy. The English language title is officially Panda Plan. But the original Chinese title translates literally as Project Panda. Somebody probably made good money advising that unnecessary title change. 

32. The Forge–this faith-based film did better in its second week? Success! Reported $5mb.

33. Love in the Big City – Korean romantic comedy about two young people falling in love...in a big city.

34. A Normal Family–Korean drama based on the Herman Koch novel about two families meeting to discuss what to do about a violent crime their children did together. 

35. Absolution–yet another Liam Neeson action film. This time he's a tired, aging gangster who wants out. 

36. Leon–on China's box office chart. No info. 

THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED 

This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office. 

ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart

The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever, depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend and focusing on new releases? 

How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic info. 

First, I list box office on every film we can from around the world. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here if we get info on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. That's followed by notes where I give info on every movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can. 

--30--    

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 27, 2024

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 27, 2024

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

1. Venom: The Last Dance–$175m worldwide debut 

2. Smile 2–$38m / $84m ww

3. The Wild Robot–$36m / $232m ww 

4. L'Amour Ouf–$11 / $16m ww

5. The Unseen Sister–$10m ww debut

6. Joker: Folie à Deux–$9m / $201m ww 

7. Terrifier 3–$8m / $53m ww 

8. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$7m / $442m ww 

9. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–$7m / $163m 

10. We Live In Time–$7m / $12m ww

11. Conclave–$7m ww debut 

12. Transformers One–$5m / $124m ww 

13. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban–$4m / $812m ww

14. Look Back–$4m ww debut

15. The Forge–$3m / $38m ww 

16. The Apprentice -- $3m / $7 ww 

17. Inside Out 2–$2m / $1.696b ww

18. Despicable Me 4–$2m / $965m ww 

19. Speak No Evil – $2m / $76m ww 

20. Deadpool & Wolverine–$1m / $1.337b ww 

21. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets–$1m / $888m ww 

22. It Ends With Us–$1m / $348m ww

23. The Nightmare Before Christmas -- $1m / $108m ww 

24. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–$1m / $65m ww

25. High Forces–$1m / $41m ww

26. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–$1m / $41m ww

27. Piece by Piece -- $1m /ww $9m ww 

28. Saturday Night -- $1m / $9m ww 

29. Anora–$1m / $2m ww

30. Love in the Big City -- $1m / $5m ww

31. A Normal Family–$1m / $3m ww 

32. Six Days in August–$600k / $1m ww 

33. The Substance–negative $3m / $39m 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 

Venom: The Last Dance is the #1 movie around the world and it is killing it in...China! The #2 market around the world  is fickle now when it comes to Hollywood fare. But while Venom 3 is underperforming in North America (coming in below expectations), it is over-performing in China. None of the Venom movies have actually been good and clearly they were smart to market this third edition as the finale (for now).

In China, it's the best superhero launch for Hollywood since 2017 and that despite the fact that Venom 2 wasn't even released in the Middle Kingdom due to COVID fallout. Still, everyone will be thrilled if this hits $400m, which should be a given unless it makes like Joker 2. One trade paper insisted it was showing growth in its audience day to day over the weekend, but I'll wait until week two before I believe it.

One reason Venom 3 did less than expected was surely the World Series, with an ideal East Coast v West Coast battle between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Game One on Friday was an instant classic; truly thrilling. Game Two was (almost) the same. If this goes to Game Six or Seven, that could spell trouble domestically for Venom 3's hold and for the blandly reviewed new drama Here with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. The next big, big film is Red One on November 15 with Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans and Lucy Liu. But plenty of genre fare can hope to score, like another Liam Neeson action film (Absolution) and Hugh Grant in the horror flick Heretic. 

Halloween is Thursday so Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the marvelous classic The Nightmare Before Christmas are all played out. But newer horror fare like Smile 2 and Terrifier 3 and Speak No Evil and The Apprentice should hold on nicely. Being scared is perennial (though 2025 looks really overloaded with fright films.) 

Overseas, France saw strong growth for L'Amour Ouf..and that's about it for international fare. Korea remains quiet. China is quiet when it comes to local fare, with Venom 3 and the reissue of all the Harry Potter films being the big news. India is also moribund, but that should change this week thanks to Diwali. That five day festival peaks on Thursday, October 31st and a bunch of films will look to reignite movie-going there. 

NOTE: Shenanigans around The Substance? Last week, the worldwide total was $42m. This week, suddenly folks are saying $42m? Oh, we meant $39m. Since the film cost a reported $18mb and seems to be stalling out well short of $54m, I'm taking away the film's hit status. Still, Demi Moore has a shot at a career redemption of an Oscar nomination and the film will be a fine catalog title for all concerned. It just won't be a "hit" from box office alone by tripling its reported budget. Many films make money without doing this of course. And yet many films never show a profit, but Hollywood's accounting methods are for another day. 

Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Currently, North American box office is at $6.3b, with Thanksgiving and Christmas to go. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory. 

NOTES 

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

1. Venom: The Last Dance–$120m reported budget, so even if it collapses quickly, this one will be a winner. With Venom 1 hitting $850m and Venom 2 at just $500m, this is an old school franchise where each new entry seeing less and less interest. They were right to call it a day after #3, clearly. 

2. Smile 2–a $28mb, which is a reasonable jump over the $17mb of the original Smile. That film grossed $217m worldwide. With this one grossing well over the film's budget on opening weekend, it's a clear box office winner. I would LOVE someone to develop a quick and easy guide to how wide a film opens worldwide. A simple pie chart showing what percentage of the worldwide market a movie has already opened in would be awesome. Smile 2 grossed $23m from North America alone. That's about, what, 20% of the worldwide market? With China another 17%? 15%? (Even if a movie never opens there or expects to make much less or nothing in that market.) Smile 2 opened in 36 countries. But Kuwait, the Netherlands and Ukraine (!) probably don't add up to 1% of the worldwide market. Is this opening 40% of the worldwide total? 60%? I don't know but it would be very useful to measure this based on the previous year's worldwide box office and the contributions of each market. Anyway, Smile 2 will certainly  hit $84m worldwide even if it collapses hard and is a hit. 

3. The Wild Robot–$80mb. Ha! Based on prior films from DreamWorks Animation I guessed this film's budget was around $80mb. And Wikipedia now says its roughly $78mb. I rounded up $2m so I could be right on the dot (plus, the math is easier when tripling).

4. L'Amour Ouf–literally "Love, Phew" but translated as Beating Hearts. A Belgian drama about teen lovers torn apart by gang violence. In competition at Cannes, but widely panned as the worst of the bunch. 

5. The Unseen Sister–a Chinese drama that I think is about a successful actress whose sister comes back into her life after many years off the radar. It's based on a novel and the Chinese title is Qiaoyan's Thoughts so naturally it's been changed for Western audiences so people don't have to stumble over how to pronounce the name Qiaoyan. On my podcast I always strove to hear a proper pronunciation and did my best, but that habit fell by the wayside. But I looked it up and the phonetic way to say the same seems to be Chow-yune. 

6. Joker: Folie à Deux–a reported $190mb. This won't come close to $600m worldwide, so I'm afraid it's a flop. I think I announced in advance it would do very, very poorly. But I would never have guessed it would struggle to pass $200m ww. 

7. Terrifier 3 -- $23m ww debut on a $2mb! Success, thy name is cheap horror films.

8. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–a reported $100mb and good audience response means this is a winner right off the bat. Hardly a slam dunk, by the way. The original came out almost 35 years ago and only grossed $78m worldwide.  So the sequel cost more than the entire first film's worldwide gross! That's not a recipe for success, normally. But the original only cost $15mb to make and everyone knew it enjoyed a long afterlife, thanks to tv reruns, Halloween, the Broadway musical and so on. Still, gamble it was and the gamble paid off. 

9. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–a sequel to China's 2023's The Volunteers: To The War, which launched this trilogy about China's involvement in the Korean War (or "police action," if you accept the Orwellian description of the US government). The first film was a reported $85mb, so presumably the sequel is the same? Director Chen Kaige already made two films about just one battle in the Korean War: The Battle at Lake Changjin I and II. They were shot back-to-back and cost a reported $200mb. Together they grossed a massive $1.5 billion worldwide. No wonder they greenlit a three-quel! This time, they spent at least 13 months filming, so surely that means they shot the entire trilogy in one fell swoop. But I bet the budget has been cut in thirds, for reporting purposes so it doesn't seem so big. The total is $240m or so for three films, I believe, which seems reasonable compared to $200mb for two films that proved such massive hits. But who the heck knows? I'm making a lot of guesses here. According to my Showbiz Sandbox notes from last year, The Volunteers: To The War topped out at about $120m worldwide. Needless to say, that's a stunning drop from the $900m the first in the Lake duology grossed. This one opened at $111m, so whew! Maybe there are more victories in the sequel? If nothing else, it's off to a better start.

10. We Live In Time–$5m ww debut Andrew Garfield/Florence Pugh drama about a decades-spanning romance. 

11. Conclave–a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means they're likely to have a hit right off the bat. Give it another week and we'll know for sure. Is it really an Oscar hopeful? I have my doubts but it's been a weak year....

12. Transformers One–a reported $75mb per the trades, though Animation Magazine has a nice feature with the director and producer and offers up $147m for the budget, which is interestingly specific. So, there's that. 

13. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban–apparently it had $808m before this reissue. So with $4m this weekend, it's now at $812m worldwide. Next week sees Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets open. per Wikipedia, it's currently at $898m. 

14. Look Back–Chinese animated film about two girls who bond over their love of manga and work on one together. 

15. The Forge–this faith-based film did better in its second week? Success! Reported $5mb.

16. The Apprentice -- with a $16mb, you can spin this either way politically. Liberals can say people didn't want to see the film because they're sick and tired of Trump. So he'll lose. Right wingers can say people didn't want to see a film that criticized in any way their beloved ruler. So he'll win. Both side-ism! 

17. Inside Out 2–$200mb. With $1.666b, it passes 2019's The Lion King to be the highest grossing animated film of all time.  

18. Despicable Me 4–$100mb, though by now Steve Carell & Co. must be getting serious bumps. 

19. Speak No Evil–James McAvoy stars in a horror film costing a reported $15mb. Horror travels well, McAvoy is a draw, the film grossed more than its budget on opening week. Winner! 

20. Deadpool & Wolverine– a $200mb is just fine when you're the highest grossing R-rated film in history. 

21. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets–And the Harry Potter train keeps a 'rolling in China. After the first film, the later films seem to open around $5m. This one had a reported budget of $100m when it was first released in 2002.  

22. It Ends With Us–a $25mb reported budget means this was a monster win, yet one of the most fraught success stories around. 

23. The Nightmare Before Christmas -- with an $18mb, this was a hit from the get-go. But regular reissues only add to the glow. This was at $103m before the current reissue and will go home with a modest $5m more. (I think they push the 3-D version too much!) See you next year! 

24. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–a Chinese crime drama of sorts. Three people united by having lost a child (to kidnapping, maybe?) join together on a road trip for revenge. 

25. High Forces–it's Die Hard in a plane! Sort of. (Remember when every action film was Die Hard in...? Those were the days.) In this Hong Kong action film Andy Lau stars as a cop who accidentally blinded his daughter when stopping a jewel robbery. His marriage ends and he quits the force to work as a security expert. Years later, Lau boards the ultra-luxury Airbus A380, only to see his wife and daughter on board  Hijackers take off the plane and start killing off passengers in economy (Man, you really should have upgraded.) Lau takes them on, with his blind daughter somehow secretly providing him intel to defeat the baddies. If it's set during Christmas time, I'll say Yipee-kiyay! The film is set for a North American release. 

26. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–a new Jackie Chan comedy in which he rescues a (CGI-generated) panda. Hilarity and heartwarming moments ensue in this family oriented action comedy. The English language title is officially Panda Plan. But the original Chinese title translates literally as Project Panda. Somebody probably made good money advising that unnecessary title change. 

27. Piece by Piece -- $16mb. A Lego documentary about musical talent Pharell Williams. I like everything about this project, from the concept to its positivity. Why not do a documentary in Legos? (Hey, the fictional Karen Carpenter story proved genius when told with Barbie dolls.) But a silly trade story questioned whether the documentary branch was ready to champion commercial projects like Piece by Piece. Umm, since it got at best middling reviews and appears to be a very modest box office film (not by doc standards, necessarily, but still), this seems a silly question. When a film is acclaimed and a big hit, the usual resistance by the doc branch is annoying. In this case, one could hardly fault them for ignoring it. It will be on few if any lists as the best of the year. 

28. Saturday Night -- $4m ww debut  $30mb 

29. Anora–no budget for Sean Baker's latest. The total is for several weeks in limited release, of course. But it hit the Top 10 in North America with $886k and another $100k plus in the UK so I'm calling it as $1m ww this week. Small movies can be difficult for me to track, but this genuine Oscar hopeful will one imagines become Baker's top-grosser to date when all is said and done. 

30. Love in the Big City – Korean romantic comedy about two young people falling in love...in a big city.

31. A Normal Family–Korean drama based on the Herman Koch novel about two families meeting to discuss what to do about a violent crime their children did together. 

32. Six Days in August–normally I wouldn't track a film that doesn't gross at least $1m ww during the week in question. But I'm puzzled as to what's going on here. This faith-based film is about the murder of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It opened two weeks ago on Oct 11 and made just $85k on the first weekend and a total of $175k for the week. The second week it grossed another $115k. So far, so not-so-good. But this weekend–when the screen count dropped to just 35 and there's no Mormon holiday or celebration that I'm aware of–apparently the word went out that people should go see the film. it grossed more than $600K, a massive $300k on Saturday and another $300k on Sunday? Did people suddenly hear the movie was fantastic? Was there some sort of pay-it-forward purchasing of tickets? Did people actually go? Will it keep up? I can only answer the last question: I sure doubt it! Still, kudos for the campaign: they got the film into the Top 11. 

33. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback. 

THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED 

This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office. 

ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart

The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever, depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend and focusing on new releases? 

How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic info. 

First, I list box office on every film we can from around the world. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here if we get info on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. That's followed by notes where I give info on every movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can. 

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WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 20, 2024

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 20, 2024

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

1. Smile 2–$46m worldwide debut 

2. The Wild Robot–$48m / $196m ww

3. Joker: Folie à Deux–$27m / $192m ww

4. Terrifier 3–$22m / $45m ww

5. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$15m / $435m ww

6. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–$16m / $156m 

7. The Substance–$9m / $42m ww 

8. Transformers One–$8m / $119m ww 

9. High Forces–$6m / $40m ww 

10. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–$5m / $64m ww

11. We Live In Time–$5m ww debut

12. L'Amour Ouf–$5m ww debut 

13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets–$5m / $887m ww 

14. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–$4m / $40m ww 

15. Piece by Piece -- $4m /ww $8m ww 

16. Saturday Night -- $4m / $8m ww 

17. Deadpool & Wolverine–$3m / $1.336b ww 

18. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- $3m / $1.034b ww 

19. Despicable Me 4–$2m / $963m ww

20. The Nightmare Before Christmas -- $2m / $107m ww 

21. The Forge–$2m / $35m ww

22. The Apprentice -- $2m / $4 ww

23. A Normal Family–$2m ww debut

24. Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie–$2m ww debut 

25. Inside Out 2–$1m / $1.694b ww

26. It Ends With Us–$1m / $347m ww

27. Speak No Evil – $1m / $74m ww 

28. Never Let Go–$1m / $16m ww

29. White Bird–$1m / $7m ww

30. A Tapestry of a Legendary Land–$1m / $7m ww 

31. Love in the Big City -- $1m / $4.4m ww 

Note: Devara: Part 1 did not appear on any tracking or news article this week. See notes. 

Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's a good marker to indicate a big hit. 

ANALYSIS 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is tearing it up...and Halloween is 10 days away!  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice should continue to have good legs through the end of October and is at $435m worldwide. The original grossed $85m. Originally WB planned to put this on streaming only. Clearly that would have been a monumental error. By and large, despite the expense, theatrical is a great boon for most films. They get much more exposure, they become more "important" in the eyes of most casual fans and they can generate serious coin. Putting aside the smart move of bolstering theatrical exhibition–a key component in the film industry–it can at least pay for its own marketing, right? If a movie just doubles the marketing budget in North America, that's a win. Then they can put it on their streamer with much greater visibility. That's my metric. Not "did the film become a blockbuster" but did theatrical pay for its own marketing budget? That means the film essentially promoted itself. How is that not a win? 

And yet, here is The Wild Robot. The film is a word of mouth smash. Like Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, this is a winner from box office alone by tripling its reported budget. Last week the film grossed $48 million worldwide. So why the heck is DreamWorks already undercutting the box office momentum and encouraging piracy by rushing the movie out onto streaming. Yes, it's only available to buy at the moment, which most folk won't do. (They'll wait to rent it or watch it on some streamer, even if they're not sure which streamer might soon carry The Wild Robot on its platform. (Peacock, I assume.) But widely advertising its availability in the home when the film is the #2 movie in North America and still has serious legs? That's as stupid as the folk who thought they should release Beetlejuice Beetlejuice direct to streaming. And at least the BB folk were making an educated guess. In the case of DreamWorks, they are cutting the legs out from under a box office smash. 

I am all for nimbleness and quick pivots and everyone working together. If a movie like Megalopolis falls on its face, exhibitors should not stand in the way of it QUICKLY becoming available to own or rent online. In its fourth weekend, it's gone from 1800+ screens to 73 and falling fast. No one is showing it anymore, so no one should be upset at saying, Ok, this film's screen count/gross is below X, so the studio is free to pivot to streaming. Right? That's everyone reacting to facts on the ground and not enforcing a good will contract just to prove a point. So for DreamWorks not to similarly pivot and say, "Gee, we need to delay our digital debut for weeks–or MONTHS– since this film is proving a great, big fat hit and we can make a ton of money and our partners the exhibitors are still supporting it" stuns me. I literally couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the tv ads during baseball post-season (and there's an odd buy, for what it's worth). I double checked the charts just to make sure I wasn't confused about where the film was at in theatrical. How much has DreamWorks thrown away at the box office? $100m? $200m? Sure, they would only take in 40% of that but this is a ludicrous, lunk-headed move. 

Glad I got that off my chest. If you want to be smart when investing in films, cheapo horror films are clearly the way to go. Smile 2 follows the success of Terrifier 3 and Speak No Evil as another winner in that category. It ain't foolproof, so don't drain your retirement fund on it, but boy is horror a dependable, low-risk genre. 

Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Currently, North American box office is at $6.3b, with Thanksgiving and Christmas to go. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory. 

NOTES 

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

1. Smile 2–a $28mb, which is a reasonable jump over the $17mb of the original Smile. That film grossed $217m worldwide. With this one grossing well over the film's budget on opening weekend, it's a clear box office winner. I would LOVE someone to develop a quick and easy guide to how wide a film opens worldwide. A simple pie chart showing what percentage of the worldwide market a movie has already opened in would be awesome. Smile 2 grossed $23m from North America alone. That's about, what, 20% of the worldwide market? With China another 17%? 15%? (Even if a movie never opens there or expects to make much less or nothing in that market.) Smile 2 opened in 36 countries. But Kuwait, the Netherlands and Ukraine (!) probably don't add up to 1% of the worldwide market. Is this opening 40% of the worldwide total? 60%? I don't know but it would be very useful to measure this based on the previous year's worldwide box office and the contributions of each market. Anyway, Smile 2 will certainly  hit $84m worldwide even if it collapses hard and is a hit. 

2. The Wild Robot–$80mb. Ha! Based on prior films from DreamWorks Animation I guessed this film's budget was around $80mb. And Wikipedia now says its roughly $78mb. I rounded up $2m so I could be right on the dot (plus, the math is easier when tripling).

3. Joker: Folie à Deux–a reported $190mb. This won't come close to $600m worldwide, so I'm afraid it's a flop. 

4. Terrifier 3 -- $23m ww debut on a $2mb! Success, thy name is cheap horror films.

5. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–a reported $100mb and good audience response means this is a winner right off the bat. Hardly a slam dunk, by the way. The original came out almost 35 years ago and only grossed $78m worldwide.  So the sequel cost more than the entire first film's worldwide gross! That's not a recipe for success, normally. But the original only cost $15mb to make and everyone knew it enjoyed a long afterlife, thanks to tv reruns, Halloween, the Broadway musical and so on. Still, gamble it was and the gamble paid off. 

6. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–a sequel to China's 2023's The Volunteers: To The War, which launched this trilogy about China's involvement in the Korean War (or "police action," if you accept the Orwellian description of the US government). The first film was a reported $85mb, so presumably the sequel is the same? Director Chen Kaige already made two films about just one battle in the Korean War: The Battle at Lake Changjin I and II. They were shot back-to-back and cost a reported $200mb. Together they grossed a massive $1.5 billion worldwide. No wonder they greenlit a three-quel! This time, they spent at least 13 months filming, so surely that means they shot the entire trilogy in one fell swoop. But I bet the budget has been cut in thirds, for reporting purposes so it doesn't seem so big. The total is $240m or so for three films, I believe, which seems reasonable compared to $200mb for two films that proved such massive hits. But who the heck knows? I'm making a lot of guesses here. According to my Showbiz Sandbox notes from last year, The Volunteers: To The War topped out at about $120m worldwide. Needless to say, that's a stunning drop from the $900m the first in the Lake duology grossed. This one opened at $111m, so whew! Maybe there are more victories in the sequel? If nothing else, it's off to a better start.

7. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback. 

8. Transformers One–a reported $75mb per the trades, though Animation Magazine has a nice feature with the director and producer and offers up $147m for the budget, which is interestingly specific. So, there's that. 

9. High Forces–it's Die Hard in a plane! Sort of. (Remember when every action film was Die Hard in...? Those were the days.) In this Hong Kong action film Andy Lau stars as a cop who accidentally blinded his daughter when stopping a jewel robbery. His marriage ends and he quits the force to work as a security expert. Years later, Lau boards the ultra-luxury Airbus A380, only to see his wife and daughter on board  Hijackers take off the plane and start killing off passengers in economy (Man, you really should have upgraded.) Lau takes them on, with his blind daughter somehow secretly providing him intel to defeat the baddies. If it's set during Christmas time, I'll say Yipee-kiyay! The film is set for a North American release. 

10. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–a Chinese crime drama of sorts. Three people united by having lost a child (to kidnapping, maybe?) join together on a road trip for revenge. 

11. We Live In Time–$5m ww debut Andrew Garfield/Florence Pugh drama about a decades-spanning romance. 

12. L'Amour Ouf–literally "Love, Phew" but translated as Beating Hearts. A Belgian drama about teen lovers torn apart by gang violence. In competition at Cannes, but widely panned as the worst of the bunch. 

13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets–$5m / $887m ww. Latest HP film to get a rerelease in China. (Prisoner of Azkaban has $797m before its China launch so it will add another $5m or so, apparently.) 

14. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–a new Jackie Chan comedy in which he rescues a (CGI-generated) panda. Hilarity and heartwarming moments ensue in this family oriented action comedy. The English language title is officially Panda Plan. But the original Chinese title translates literally as Project Panda. Somebody probably made good money advising that unnecessary title change. 

15. Piece by Piece -- $16mb. A Lego documentary about musical talent Pharell Williams. I like everything about this project, from the concept to its positivity. Why not do a documentary in Legos? (Hey, the fictional Karen Carpenter story proved genius when told with Barbie dolls.) But a silly trade story questioned whether the documentary branch was ready to champion commercial projects like Piece by Piece. Umm, since it got at best middling reviews and appears to be a very modest box office film (not by doc standards, necessarily, but still), this seems a silly question. When a film is acclaimed and a big hit, the usual resistance by the doc branch is annoying. In this case, one could hardly fault them for ignoring it. It will be on few if any lists as the best of the year. 

16. Saturday Night -- $4m ww debut  $30mb 

17. Deadpool & Wolverine– a $200mb means it's still a big winner. 

18. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- $7m / $1.031b ww  ($125mb). Reissued in China. 

19. Despicable Me 4–$100mb, though by now Steve Carell & Co. must be getting serious bumps. 

20. The Nightmare Before Christmas -- $2m / $105m ww (Made $103m before current reissue) ($18mb)

21. The Forge–this faith-based film did better in its second week? Success! Reported $5mb.

22. The Apprentice -- with a $16mb, you can spin this either way politically. Liberals can say people didn't want to see the film because they're sick and tired of Trump. So he'll lose. Right wingers can say people didn't want to see a film that criticized in any way their beloved ruler. So he'll win. Both side-ism! 

23. A Normal Family–Korean drama based on the Herman Koch novel about two families meeting to discuss what to do about a violent crime their children did together. 

24. Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie–no reported budget for this Netflix exclusive which is already online for six weeks all over the world but opened commercially in China on Oct 18. 

25. Inside Out 2–$200mb. With $1.666b, it passes 2019's The Lion King to be the highest grossing animated film of all time. 

26. It Ends With Us–a $25mb reported budget. 

27. Speak No Evil–James McAvoy stars in a horror film costing a reported $15mb. Horror travels well, McAvoy is a draw, the film grossed more than its budget on opening week. Winner! 

28. Never Let Go– $20mb. A survivalist horror film. Momma (Halle Berry) tells her two kids The Evil has taken over the world and they must stay in an isolated cabin on their own. She's lying about the world being over, but The Evil is real. Boo! Let me give it another week to see the hold, but it's likely this will be a winner. 

29. White Bird–A reported $20mb. It's a sequel/prequel to the 2017 film Wonder. Here a teen (from the first film) tells his awesome grandma (Helen Mirren) that he feels pressured to fit in at his new school and not cause waves. In response, she tells him about her childhood when fleeing the Holocaust. So it's a teaching moment! 

30. A Tapestry of a Legendary Land–this Chinese film seems to be adapting a famed dance piece into a theatrical film. A scholar studying a famed tapestry is magically transported back in time to embody the artist that painted it. I'm not sure if there's even any dialogue in the film, which is realistic, than dance-oriented but set in the past and then purely abstract and pretty.  

31. Love in the Big City – Korean romantic comedy about two young people falling in love...in a big city.

NOTE: Devara: Part 1 ($33mb; Indian-Telugu) begins with threat to major cricket match in 1996. Then it has an elaborate flashback story about Devara, who vows to stop smuggling on the Red Seas and kills any villager who tries to continue the practice. I've no idea how this ties into the threat against the cricket match but maybe Part 2 will explain all. Stars N.T. Rama Rao Jr. in multiple roles. Suspicious claims by the producers and two weeks without any independent reporting on the film's grosses have this in Popsurfing limbo.

THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED 

This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office. 

ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart

The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever, depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend and focusing on new releases? 

How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic info. 

First, I list box office on every film we can from around the world. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here if we get info on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. That's followed by notes where I give info on every movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can. 

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