WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
A film's gross for the last seven days is followed by its total worldwide gross.
1. The Wild Robot–$46m / $53m ww
2. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$43m / $373m worldwide total
3. Transformers One–$33m / $72m ww
4. Devara: Part 1–$33m worldwide debut
5. Blink Twice–$24m / $68m* (see notes below)
6. Speak No Evil–$16m / $58m ww
7. Never Let Go–$11m ww debut
8. The Substance–$9m / $15m ww
9. It Ends With Us–$6m / $341m ww
10. Veteran 2 aka I, The Executioner–$6m / $47m ww
11. Megalopolis–$6m ww debut
12. The School of Magical Animals 3–$6m ww debut
13. Despicable Me 4–$5m / $953m
14. Like A Rolling Stone aka Chu Zao de Jue Zin–$5m / $16m ww
15. Inside Out 2–$4m / $1.687b
16. Deadpool & Wolverine–$4m / $1.321b ww
17. Stand By Me: Doraemon 3–$4m / $34m ww
18. The Greatest of All Time–$3m /$54m ww
19. My Old Ass–$3m
20. Howl's Moving Castle–$2m / $238m ww
21. Stree 2–$2m / $103m
22. Chong Sheng aka Go For Broke–$2m / $66m
23. The Forge–$2m / $29m
24. A Frozen Rage aka Yi Xue Qian Chi–$2m / $13m ww
25. Am I Racist?–$2m / $11m ww
26. Enjoy Yourself aka Zhu Ni Xing Fu–$2m / $9m ww
27. The Killer's Game–$2m / $6m ww
28. Successor–$1m / $476m
29. Alien: Romulus–$1m / $343m ww
30. Reagan–$1m / $28m
31. The Crow (2024)–$1m / $24m
32. The Sinking Of The Lisbon Maru–$1m / $5m 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
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is tearing it up...and Halloween is still one month away! Beetlejuice Beetlejuice should continue to have good legs through the end of October. I think $500m is a possibility and that's amazing for a sequel to a film that grossed $85m worldwide.
But the big winner of the week is The Wild Robot. It opened strongly in North America, enjoys great audience response and good reviews and everyone hopes it legs out for DreamWorks Animation. With a reported budget of $80mb, it's...in exactly the same space as Transformers One was in after its opening weekend. That proved a disappointment as audiences are proving slow to recognize that one as an artistic winner they would enjoy. Both of them face a wide open field for the family audience until Moana 2 opens on November 27. Somehow I think Transformers One will be hurt more by Joker 2 and other fare while The Wild Robot will be seen as straightforward family fare. Plus, The Wild Robot hopes to replicated other DWA movies and do better overseas than in the U.S. Megatron and friends kind of fell through the cracks as not quite kiddie and not quite adult fare, though I'm sure it will enjoy a long tail success when it hits streaming.
In India, superstar N.T. Rama Rao Jr. releases his 30th film and it's a hit for him and the Telugu industry. (The Hindi creators–the classic Bollywood arm of India–continues to struggle a bit, with Stree 2 the happy exception.) The market overall remains very quiet, with the Tamil actioner The Greatest Of Them All lucky to gross its reported budget. Of course you need to triple your budget by our standards to be considered a hit from box office alone.
In Korea, Veterans 2 remains the bright spot in another moribund market. You could have a Top 10 film just by grossing $70,000. China? Nothing there. A Hollywood movie (Transformers One) tops the charts but with less than $5m. Local fare that opened modestly is falling hard, so no Successor-like hits happening yet.
The North American market is back, entirely. All it needs is more movies, all the time. The rest of the world? Not so much. China will come roaring back this week, however, since its National Day and big movies will be opening up starting Monday Sept 30.
For smaller fare, it was a great week for conservatives at the box office. Am I Racist? is doing gangbusters with its Borat-like prank documentary mocking those calling for a more inclusive, respectful society. The film hit $11m and is enjoying a great hold. This one will be on the list of the 100 top grossing documentaries of all time worldwide; plus it's quadrupling a reported budget of $3mb. A win all around, so expect a sequel. It overshadows convicted felon Dinesh D'Souza's Vindicating Trump but that's at #12, which ain't too shabby for a doc either. Plus, Dennis Quaid won't get an Oscar nomination and Reagan won't be profitable, but that saintly biopic is closing in on $30m. Toss in The Forge–a faith-based film–and you've got one of the strongest lineups of conservative films on the charts at the same time in quite a while.
Oh, Megalopolis. It's no surprise the film flopped. (But it got a standing ovation at film festivals!) It's not even a surprise at how big it flopped. I mean, I didn't bother to go see it and I have an AMC movie pass! Will I see it this week? I'm tempted. Did they have any people planted in audiences to pull off one of the film's goofier stunts? I haven't heard a word about that, though surely theater chains could find an employee willing to slip in and do it, no? I may also go see The Wild Robot but it's not a given. And I would definitely have seen Howl's Moving Castle and bought some popcorn at the concession stand...but like most re-releases, it's not covered by my monthly pass, which aggravates me to no end.
Next week, Joker: Folie à Deux opens. It won't flop like Megalopolis. But it also won't come within a mile of the $1billion grossing 2019 film. Reviews are more mixed than the original, it's a musical and it's called Folie à Deux, people! I mean, come on. I have not looked at tracking; I'm just assuming.
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. 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. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Devara: Part 1 ($33mb; Indian-Telugu) begins with threat to major cricket match in 1996. Then 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.
5. Blink Twice–Usually reported with a $20mb, which sounds right. Though some insist $80mb because of delays. Who knows? I had the film at about $44m worldwide but this week, both Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo insist it's now at $68m worldwide. It certainly didn't gross $24m this week, since it's essentially played out all over the world. As I've noted before, sometimes international box office figures...trickle in. If we assume a $20mb and ignore the delays that director Zoë Kravitz certainly wasn't responsible for, then this is a win for all involved. While I'm always suspicious when box office numbers leap unexpectedly, no studio or an exhibitor has much of an incentive to fake a massive increase in box office. Producers? Sure. You can't trust producers! :)
6. 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!
7. 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.
9. It Ends With Us–a $25mb
11. Megalopolis–a reported $140mb means Francis Ford Coppola is not pulling off a miracle a la Apocalypse Now, not this time, unfortunately.
12. The School of Magical Animals 3–How did I ever miss The School of Magical Animals 1 and 2? This German family film is obviously the third in a series about a school where certain students get a magical animal in one class (from a pet store run by a Scottish fellow). He flips over a magical coat and the animal pops out. Adventure ensues! It's based on a series of books by German author Margit Auer, which she launched in 2013 and has 13 novels in the series (perhaps including a spin-off with stories for younger readers). Needless to say, the film is a poor man's Harry Potter (though who knows, maybe the books are good). The third film's trailer tracks a little older than the first film, so maybe it's growing up along with the kids who read it, also like Potter? The first film grossed $22m worldwide and the second $19m, so I assume this is somehow pretty modestly budgeted at, who knows, $7m or so? Else why would they make more? If this hits $20m I'll consider it a win.
13. Despicable Me 4–$100mb, though by now Steve Carell & Co. must be getting serious bumps
14. Like A Rolling Stone aka Chu Zao de Jue Zin–this Chinese drama is about a woman in her 50s who breaks away (from a husband? family?) and starts to live for herself by driving around the country in a "self-guided tour." You know, a road trip. In China it's called Chu Zao de Jue Zin, which translates to Determination to Leave. That works, but the official English title is apparently Like A Rolling Stone, which is terrible and for a moment made me think the Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet opened in China first.
18. The Greatest of all Time–an Indian Tamil sci-fi movie starring Vijay, it involves rogue clones or something and cost $50mb, a big big number for Indian films. Audiences would need to ignore critics for this one to become a hit. A big second weekend drop of about 60% means that's not happening and the film probably won't be a hit. But Vijay may not care so much: he's left movies and launched a regional political party to push back against the BJP and its fascist attempt to demonize Muslims while ending India's long, great history of secular government. At least, I think that's what he's doing, as far as I can tell.
19. My Old Ass–Sundance film written and directed by Megan Park. An 18 year old girl named Elliott is on the cusp of college, exploring her sexuality and some psychedelics when she's visited by Older Elliott, herself from the future. Older Elliott tries to warn younger Elliott off certain things, but all she'll say is avoid a boy named Chad. The next day, Elliott meets Chad.
20. Howl's Moving Castle–($24mb) Grossed $236m prior to latest re-release in 2024.
22. Chong Sheng aka Go For Broke–Chinese drama about undercover cop in drug gang.
23. The Forge–this faith-based film did better in its second week? Success! Reported $5mb.
29. Alien: Romulus–a reported $80mb
30. Reagan–$25mb for adoring biopic of the President, which is narrated by two former KGB agents!
31. The Crow (2024)–$50mb
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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