WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2024

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2024 

A film's total gross for the entire previous week is followed by

its worldwide total to date.

1. Alien: Romulus – $117m/$225m worldwide

2. Deadpool & Wolverine – $68m/$1,211m ww

3. It Ends With Us – $63m/$243m ww

4. Despicable Me 4 –– $38m/$885m ww

5. Stree 2 – $36m/$60m ww

6. Inside Out 2 –– $23m/$1,649m ww

7. Coraline – $19m/$165m ww reissue

8. Chong Sheng aka Go For Broke – $19m/$34m ww

9. Twisters -- $14m/$347m ww

10. Blink Twice – $14m ww debut

11. Detective Conan: Million Dollar Pentagram – $13m/$159m ww

12. Successor -- $11m/$459m ww

13. The Hedgehog – $11m ww debut

13. b Untouchable -- $11m ww debut

14. Trap -- $10m/$72m ww

15. Bai She: Fu Sheng aka White Snake: Afloat -- $8m/$51m ww

16. The Crow (2024 remake) – $8m ww debut

17. The Forge – $6m ww debut

18. Upstream -- $5m/$48m ww 

19. Borderlands – $5m/$24m ww

20. How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies – $4m/$38m ww

21. Pilot -- $4m/$30m ww

22. Land Of Happiness – $3m/$10m ww

23. Harold and the Purple Crayon -- $2m/$23m ww

24. Cuckoo – $1m/$6m ww

25. My Penguin Friend – $1m/$2m ww

26. Victory – $1m/$2m ww

27. Spring Garden – $1.5m ww debut

OFF THE RADAR:

Land of Broken Hearts aka Fu Fu De Sheng – $10m ww as of August 18. Disappeared off the charts after a

$10m debut, which seems unlikely.

NOTE: Sundance film Didi at $3.7m. One of my favorites of the year. Check it out!

NOTE: Longlegs hits $101m ww.

NOTE: I'm only human. Last week I screwed up the math on Deadpool & Wolverine AND I conflated two

movies and messed up their box office numbers. Land of Broken Hearts aka Fu Fu De Sheng is a

Chinese movie while Land of Happiness is a Korean drama. (It doesn't help that another Chinese film

is called Bai She: Fu Sheng. So it could have been worse.) They both grossed $3m

and I...I got confused. The earlier charts have been corrected.

Bold: movies that have tripled (or likely will triple) their reported budgets.

This makes them probable hits from box office alone. Many films become profitable without

achieving this; but it's a useful marker of a major hit.

ww: worldwide

mb: a film's budget so $50mb means it cost $50m to make.

Below is an analysis of the box office, notes on individual films and at the bottom an explanation of the chart and how it is derived. 

ANALYSIS 

I'm calling it! Fifteen years after it first came out, the 2009 stop-motion animated masterpiece Coraline is a hit! It's grossed $38m so far this go-round, opening to an excellent $19m and then earning another $19m in the last seven days. That is a terrific hold and an amazing over-all number for a movie that wasn't a blockbuster the first time out. Movies have a long history of being re-released in movie theaters over and over again: The Sound of Music, Gone With The Wind, the Star Wars films and of course Disney made a mint putting out its animated movies every seven years. More movies got re-released the summer after they came out to cash in again, like Jaws and E.T. But much of that happened in the years before cable and VHS and DVD and streaming made movies available anytime at the click of a button. And most of those were huge hits, not the more qualified success of Coraline, which enjoyed great reviews but didn't even count as a hit the first time around. It cost a reported $60mb and grossed $127m worldwide in 2019. Now it's going to hit $180m, my marker for naming a film a hit from box office alone. It's not a perfect measure and we don't really know the actual figures about any movie or when it all starts to pay off. (You certainly don't need to triple your real/reported budget at the box office for a movie to be profitable in the long run.) But it sure is nice to do. 

What does this mean? Nothing. Every movie is unique. Truly. Are reissues suddenly going to make a lot more money? Nope. Except sometimes. Coraline is a family film based on a classic children's book. Historically, family films prove more lucrative than not post-theatrical. So this was already a valuable title. Plus it's in 3-D! Were they right about 3-D all along? Nope. It's the rare movie I would strongly recommend you see in a theater in 3-D because it's done with care and really is gorgeous to see. But 99% of all movies don't need to be done in 3-D and even when they are done in 3-D (which is rarer and rarer), they're rarely done in 3-D this well. It was a smart bet at the time and now an undeniable one. Just don't expect director Henry Selick to find out his gross profit points are worth anything yet. Now that would be a miracle. 

Speaking of animated movies, Inside Out 2 needs just another $15m to pass 2019's The Lion King reboot to become the highest grossing animated film of all time worldwide. Some outlets mention The Lion King but add that Disney doesn't classify it as an animated film. (It's entirely animated except for an opening shot of a sunrise but is designed to look as photo-realistic as possible so you believe these are real animals.) Excuse me, Disney doesn't get a vote. If they insisted Toy Story was a documentary, would we all be forced to say the highest grossing documentary film of all time was about Woody and Buzz coming to life? No. So enough of that. 

If you don't recognize a film from its title, keep reading! Below, I give country origin, plot info and a reported budget for every film where available. 

Here's a reminder: Studios are releasing about 25% FEWER movies than they did on average from 2016-2019, it's only reasonable to expect a box office total this year that's 25% lower than average for those four years. So expect 2024 to hit about $8.4 billion in North America, which would be great. (Anything above $8b is fine, really.) If that happens, the box office has "fully" recovered, people are going to the movies and if studios release a robust, normal schedule of big and medium and small movies in 2025, we should be back at the $10b-$11b range again. 

NOTES: info on movies in release. The "mb" refers to a film's reported budget, in millions of US $. So $40mb means a budget of US $40m.

1. Alien: Romulus – $80mb. And a monster success in China, 

where it's at $75m and counting. 

2. Deadpool & Wolverine -- reported $200mb means it's a massive hit.

I assume Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman will have to back up their

SUVs to haul away their payday. But still.

3. It Ends With Us -- reported $25mb. Based on the Colleen Hoover 

blockbuster novel about a woman fighting to escape domestic violence. 

4. Despicable Me 4 – reported budget of $100m? Surely Steve Carell

and the rest are demanding big bucks

by now. While we usually accept a reported budget, our eyebrows are

sometimes raised in skepticism.

5. Stree 2 – with a reported budget ranging from $6mb to $15mb

(which is a huge range!) and an opening week of $24m ww, this is a hit.

6. Inside Out 2 –– its total is now $1.649 billion, so it needs another $15m

to pass 2019's remake of The Lion King and become the highest grossing animated film of all time.

7. Coraline – the classic 3-D animated film enjoys a rerelease and does better than

anyone expected. With a reported budget of $60mb and the movie certain to hit

$180m, it's a hit. Yes, they paid to reissue it but the marketing budget was nominal,

certainly compared to most new releases.

8. Chong Sheng aka Go For Broke – Chinese drama about an undercover joining a drug gang.

9. Twisters -- a $150mb means it's not a hit. It feels like a hit to some, in part because of 

the desire by Hollywood to insist Glen Powell is a movie star. (And maybe he is?) But it's not a hit. 

10. Blink Twice – a $14m ww debut for the directorial debut of Zoe Kravitz. I've seen

the budget listed as $20mb, but some insist it's an $80mb!! Well, that's a big difference.

Given that audiences liked it less than critics, it'll be lucky to get to $60m, but it's not out

of the question. Still, reviewers were notably kind to the movie and Kravitz, so don't count her out.

11. Detective Conan: The Multi-Million Dollar Pentagram -- It stood at $128m before

opening in China. Now it's grossed $31m in that country and counting. I've no idea of the

budget but it's the 27th film in the animated franchise (based on the manga!) and this edition

is the highest grosser yet in its home country of Japan. So surely they're making money on it.

12. Successor -- Chinese comedy about poor family whose entire hopes and dreams depend

on their son. A trailer with no subtitles gives me a vague idea of the film's tone and style but

I'm not sure what exactly the son is supposed to do, other than score well at school? Given

the scope of the film, I'm sure its budget wasn't massive and so it's almost certainly a hit

from box office alone.

13. The Hedgehog – A Chinese family drama about stuttering and rebellious (but hot) teen

and his mentally ill grandfather. I pray they make a sequel and call it The Fox.

13. b. Untouchable --Chinese crime thriller revolving around gambling and tough guys. 

14. Trap -- M. Night Shyamalan's latest has a $30m budget. So despite the remarkable

amount of press for star Josh Hartnett (good job, publicity people!) it needs to leg out

and make $90m to be a hit.

15. Bai She: Fu Sheng aka White Snake: Afloat -- I believe this Chinese film (perhaps animated)

made $5m in previews. ComScore calls it White Snake but I believe it's a sequel to

the 2019 animated film White Snake and its sequel Green Snake. What I found on IMDB

is a movie called Bai She: Fu Sheng which officially opened August 10, so maybe it previewed?

I'm flying blind here, folks! Now it seems to be called White Snake: Afloat for English markets.

16. The Crow -- unnecessary $50mb remake of the cursed franchise.

17. The Forge – $6m ww debut for this faith-based film about a teen who graduates high school

but isn't sure what to do with his life. God tells him! A reported $5mb. It's always good to gross

more than your budget on the opening week, but these films often don't have legs. Let's see week two.

18. Upstream -- a Chinese film, I assume since it opened in that market. Can't track down a trailer 

or any info. 

19. Borderlands – this Eli Roth extravaganza starring Cate Blanchett is based on a video game, cost

a reported $110mb and opened to $17m.

20. How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies – This is the Thai weepie drama about a

callous young man who moves in with his grandmother so he can get her home and stuff when

she dies. Lessons are learned! It became the highest grossing Thai film in history, famous for

making everyone cry. People posted TikTok videosbefore the movie insisting they wouldn't cry...

and then videos afterwards still emotionally moved. Even the New York Times took not. It was

at $34m worldwide before opening in China. So far it's made $4m there. No idea of the budget

but it's not a big would-be blockbuster so clearly it's a hit.

21. Pilot -- in this Korean comedy, a male commercial pilot is very handsome and so popular

he's even a celebrity of sorts. Then he makes a foolish mistake and can't get a job. So he makes

like Dustin Hoffman and poses as a woman (specifically pretending to be his own little sister)

so he can get back to work. Presumably this concept will not travel well to the U.S.

22. Land Of Happiness – K drama about lawyer in 1979 representing the man who assassinated

the country's ruler. The verdict is practically pre-determined, but the lawyer still fights for a fair trial.

23. Harold and the Purple Crayon – I don't buy the reported $40mb, but even at that price, it's a flop.

24. Cuckoo – this horror film cost a reported $7mb.

25. My Penguin Friend – Based on a true story of a Brazilian fisherman who rescues a penguin

almost dying from an oil spill. They become friends! Naturally, French actor Jean Reno plays

the Brazilian and the movie is in English.

26. Victory – K comedy/drama about a high school cheerleading squad. They love to dance!

27. Spring Garden – $1.5m ww debut K horror film when woman is widowed and then discovers

creepy things at her husband's crumbling mansion and garden.

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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