WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 1, 2024

 WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 1, 2024

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

Alien: Romulus–$59m / $284m worldwide box office 

Deadpool & Wolverine–$47m / $1.258b 

It Ends With Us–$41m / $284m  

Despicable Me 4–$29m / $914m  

Stree 2–$21m / $81m

Inside Out 2–$17m / $1.666b  

Chong Sheng aka Go For Broke–$12m / $46m 

Twisters–$10m / $357m 

The Forge–$10m / $16m 

Untouchable–$9m / $20m 

Blink Twice–$8m / $22m   

Successor–$7m / $466m 

How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies–$7m / $45m 

Borderlands–$7m / $31m 

The Hedgehog–$7m / $18m 

Reagan–$7m debut 

Afraid–$7m debut 

Bai She: Fu Sheng aka White Snake: Afloat–$6m / $57m 

Detective Conan: Million Dollar Pentagram–$5m / $164m 

Coraline–$4m / $169m 

IM Hero The Stadium–$3.5m debut 

The Crow (2024)–$3m / $11m  

Longlegs–$2m / $103m 

Upstream–$2m / $50m 

Harold and the Purple Crayon–$2m / $25m 

1992–$1.6m debut 

City of Dreams (2024)–$1.5m debut 

Trap–$1m / $73m 

Pilot–$1m / $31m  

My Penguin Friend–$1m / $3m 

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

ANALYSIS 

It's a holiday weekend and a quiet week at the box office, as always. The UK even had its Come To The Movies budget day this week. Maybe Hollywood is waiting until Super Bowl weekend?

It's official: Inside Out 2 is now the highest grossing animated film worldwide in history. Disney tried to insist 2019's remake of The Lion King was not an animated film because it strove to appear photo-realistic. Sorry, they don't get a vote. Toy Story 2 is not a documentary and Titanic is not a musical just because Rose and Jack go dancing and then Celine Dion is heard over the closing credits. 

Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies 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. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we can expect to be back in the $10b-$11b territory. 

NOTES 

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

Alien: Romulus–a reported $80mb 

Deadpool & Wolverine– a $200mb  

It Ends With Us–a $25mb   

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

Stree 2–the reported budget varies from $6m to $15m, but with $81m so far, this Hindi supernatural comedy is a hit.

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

Chong Sheng aka Go For Broke–Chinese drama about undercover cop in drug gang.

Twisters–$150mb keeps this from hit territory.  

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

Untouchable–Chinese crime thriller revolving around gambling and tough guys.  

Blink Twice–Usually reported with a $20mb, which sounds right. Though some insist $80mb because of delays.  

Successor–Chinese comedy about poor family depending on school-age son for their future. 

How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies–Thai weepie about grandson bonding with grandmother after moving in to her home with mercenary intentions. Everyone watching it cries at the end! 

Borderlands–$110mb  

The Hedgehog–A Chinese drama about a stuttering and rebellious (but hot!) teen and his mentally ill grandfather. Hopefully they'll make a sequel and call it The Fox. 

Reagan–$25mb for adoring biopic of the President, which is narrated by two former KGB agents!

Afraid–$12mb for AI horror flick.

Bai She: Fu Sheng aka White Snake: Afloat–Chinese animated film, threequel to White Snake and Green Snake. 

Detective Conan: Million Dollar Pentagram–27th film in Japanese animated franchise. Stood at $128m before opening in China. 

Coraline–$60mb for 2019 3-D classic directed by Henry Selick and based on Neil Gaiman novel. 

IM Hero The Stadium–Concert film starring SK singer Lim Young-woong. 

The Crow (2024)–$50mb  

Longlegs–$10mb and grossing $103m so Nicolas Cage deserves every penny he made when the film hit $100m.

Upstream–Chinese film, I think. Drawing a blank on getting info about this one.  

Harold and the Purple Crayon–$40mb seems suspiciously low, but it's still a flop. 

1992–Inspiring film about shop owner fighting to protect his son during LA uprising.  

City of Dreams (2024)–Crushing story of young Mexican boy trafficked to US.  

Trap–$30mb so it got quite close to hit status and will certainly be profitable thanks to $73m haul. 

Pilot–South Korean comedy about male pilot who poses as his sister after scandal so he can fly again.  

My Penguin Friend–A Brazilian film with a French actor Jean Reno performing in English. Of course!

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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