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. 

--30--    

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. 

--30--    

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 13, 2024

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 13, 2024

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

1. The Wild Robot–$48m / $148m worldwide total

2. Joker: Folie à Deux–$46m / $165m ww 

3. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–$27m / $140m ww

4. Terrifier 3 -- $23m ww debut 

5. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$17m / $420m ww 

6. The Substance–$17m / $33m ww 

7. Devara: Part 1–$15m /$59m ww 

8. Transformers One–$14m / $111m ww 

9. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–$11m / $59m ww 

10. High Forces–$9m / $34m ww 

11. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–$8m / $36m ww 

12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- $7m / $1.031b ww 

13. Speak No Evil – $6m / $73m ww

14. My Hero Academia: You're Next -- $5m / $30m ww 

15. Deadpool & Wolverine–$4m / $1.333b ww 

16. Piece by Piece -- $4m ww debut 

17. Saturday Night -- $4m ww debut 

18. Despicable Me 4–$3m / $961m ww 

19. Bureau749–$3m / $53m ww 

20. Inside Out 2–$4m / $1.693b ww

21. Alien: Romulus–$2m / $350m ww

22. The Nightmare Before Christmas -- $2m / $105m ww 

23. Veteran 2 aka I, The Executioner–$2m / $52m ww

24. The Forge–$2m / $33m ww

25. Never Let Go–$2m / $15m ww

26. Megalopolis–$2m / $11m ww

27. A Tapestry of a Legendary Land–$2m / $6m ww 

28. Welcome to the Game/Bang Jia You Xi -- $2m ww debut 

29. Love in the Big City -- $1.5m / $3.5m ww 

30. The Apprentice -- $1.5m ww debut 

31. It Ends With Us–$1m / $346m ww 

32. White Bird–$1m / $6m ww 

33. Average Joe -- $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 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is tearing it up...and Halloween is 17 days away!  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice should continue to have good legs through the end of October. I realize $500m is no longer a possibility; I'm just glad I didn't predict $600m like I almost did. But $450m or so is amazing since the original grossed just $85m worldwide.

Onto the bad news: audiences are ready to see new movies; they just don't want to see bad movies. This is nothing new, but fans are rejecting films that don't cut it in markets all over the world. In China, The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death opened big, grossing more than the first film in its entire run. Then the bottom fell out. Since three films were made at a cost of $240mb, they needed to gross $750m at least in order to be profitable. It ain't happening, so $400m or so with a max of $500m is the best they can hope for. That was a big roll of the dice and it fell flat. China's Bureau749 also collapsed, along with Jackie Chan's Panda Plan and numerous other minor titles. Only Tiger Wolf Rabbit and High Forces have a modest good story to tell. The best news in China? Harry Potter. They're releasing all eight films one a week or so and the first one scored an ok $7m, putting it #2 overall for the weekend. 

In Korea, Veteran 2 aka I, The Executioner also collapsed mightily. In its opening week, the film grossed $50m. In week two? Just $2m. Now that's a collapse. 

In India, Devara Part I is enjoying great word of mouth? Maybe? I've found no box office figures for it yet. The only news came via a social media post of the producers who insist the film crossed the 500 crore mark. If true, that would mean the film increased over last week, growing from $11m to $15m this week. That would mean the film has hit at least $59m. If it does have this building success, then the $100m needed to be a hit from box office alone is well in sight. If it falls off a cliff next week or real numbers aren't so favorable, then we'll know better. Time will tell. But there's no question the Indian market is exceptionally weighted towards a few hits and a lot of losers, which is not healthy. 

Then we have North America, where Joker: Folie à Deux was soundly rejected by one and all. The backstabbing has commenced: director Todd Phillips refused to test screen with audiences; he wouldn't listen to anyone; hubris! Well, when you ignored everyone by making an R-rated nihilistic Joker and it became a worldwide sensation, would you listen to anyone else? And the studio was desperate for a sequel so of course they gave him the moon. Maybe this means they'll get his next film, which might just be another hit. Plus other creatives will respect them, assuming they strongly defend Phillips and the film, which they would if they were wise. The only person Phillips should have listened to was himself: when Joker proved a sensation, he insisted they had no plans for a sequel. 

Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis is also a stunning flop. But is it? His films of the 21st century include Twixt ($1m worldwide gross), Tetro ($2.m) and Youth Without Youth ($2.6m). In the 1990s, The Rainmaker and Jack (w Robin Williams) both flopped. Even The Godfather Part III couldn't triple its $54m budget, though it came close. Only Bram Stoker's Dracula was an out and out hit, costing $40mb and grossing $216m worldwide. In the 1980s? Only The Outsiders managed to triple its $10mb by grossing $33m. (Peggy Sue Got Married did okay, too.) That's it. After his glorious run in the 1970s, Coppola has never enjoyed critical or commercial success on almost any film. Dracula is about it. Even adjusting for inflation, the only time Coppola had a comparable budget to Megalopolis was...Apocalypse Now. Of course, everyone in Hollywood knew this which is why they turned him down again and again. Beware of dream projects; they'll break your heart. 

The good news remains The Wild Robot, which held nicely in the US and continues to open in new markets. It's likely to triple its budget and since the book is the first in a trilogy, you can expect a Wild Robot 2 and 3. 

Oh and I went to see The Nightmare Before Christmas reissue. It grossed $2m this weekend and I'd argue one reason is their idiotic decision to reformat the film for 3-D. most screenings are in 3-D when everyone knows kids hate 3-D and the glasses are a pain and the film was not designed for 3-D in the first place. Ok, in the era when studios were foolishly convinced 3-D was the future I can see doing this. But why bother now? I'm sure it keeps some people away. I had to wait days for a convenient time to see it properly.  The film from director Henry Selick remains a delight. It's even better than I remembered. The production design is wonderful, the vocal performances spot-on, the songs are great and while I wish the romance had a titch more screen time, the film is otherwise nigh on perfect. Stop-motion animation is such a treat because it's real. Yes, they're telling the story of Halloweentown. But they build it all by hand and humans move the characters frame by frame, giving everything an undeniable bit of randomness you don't get with some computer animation. It's one of those rare films that seemed set up for a sequel but didn't get it. Jack enters Christmastown via a tree trunk marked with a tree and we see trees marked with symbols for Thanksgiving and Easter and Valentine's Day and so on. Why Jack never ventured into another holiday (or maybe the child of his and Sally, so they must rescue the mischief-causing tyke) is beyond me. In fact, kid enters a new holiday, Jack goes to rescue him and messes things up more...and then the indomitable Sally goes and rescues them both. Voila! Plus, why is there no stage production? It can play from before Halloween through Thanksgiving and Christmas, which makes it a triple holiday threat. Just saying.  

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

3. 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.

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

7. 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. 

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. 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. 

10. 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! 

11. 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. 

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

13. 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! 

14. My Hero Academia: You're Next -- $5m / $30m ww  (three previous films $30m to $47m ww) 

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

16. Piece by Piece -- $4m ww debut on $16mb

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

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

19. Bureau 749–Chinese sci-fi film. From the trailer, it's the present/near-future and some sort of alien attack is taking place. That means Bureau 749 must spring into action, a military group of some sort that recruits a hot young guy who is an outcast because of his "deformities" (he has some scarring on his back) and yet will prove vital to fighting off the creatures somehow or other. The only English language review I saw was not kind. 

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

21. Alien: Romulus–a reported $80mb 

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

23. Veteran 2: I, The Executioner–A South Korean crime drama often simply called I, The Executioner and sequel to the 2015 hit film Veteran. The original cost $5mb and grossed more than $90m worldwide, so a sequel was inevitable, delayed only by the COVID pandemic. I am assuming the sequel cost $7mb but the numbers are a little unclear. Nonetheless, even if the budget doubled they should be in good shape. 

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

25. 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. 

26. Megalopolis–a reported $140mb means Francis Ford Coppola is not pulling off a miracle a la Apocalypse Now, not this time, unfortunately.  

27. 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.  

28. Welcome to the Game/Bang Jia You Xi -- $2m ww debut bad day for our hero in this Chinese crime drama. He owes money to a casino that's about to collect...one way or another. AND his daughter is running away from home. 

29. The Apprentice -- $1.5m ww debut ($16mb)

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

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

32. 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! 

33. Average Joe -- $1m ww debut for this faith-based football film. 

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 6, 2024

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 6, 2024

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

1. Joker: Folie à Deux–$119m worldwide debut 

2. The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death–$113m ww debut 

3. Bureau749–$50m ww

4. Tiger Wolf Rabbit–$48m ww debut 

5. The Wild Robot–$47m / $100m ww 

6. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$30m / $403m ww 

7. Panda Plan aka Project Panda–$28m ww debut 

8. Transformers One–$25m / $97m ww 

9. High Forces–$25m ww debut 

10. Devara: Part 1–$11m /$44m ww 

11. Speak No Evil–$9m / $67m ww 

12. Deadpool & Wolverine–$8m / $1.329b ww

13. Despicable Me 4–$5m / $958m ww 

14. Alien: Romulus–$5m / $348m ww

15. White Bird–$5m ww debut 

16. Inside Out 2–$4m / $1.691b ww

17. It Ends With Us–$4m / $345m ww 

18. A Tapestry of a Legendary Land–$4m ww debut

19. Veteran 2 aka I, The Executioner–$3m / $50m ww

20. Megalopolis–$3m / $9m ww 

21. New Happy Dad and Son 6: Shrunk–$3m ww debut

22. Give You A Candy–$3m ww debut 

23. The Hutong Cowboy–$3m ww debut

24. Howl's Moving Castle–$2m / $240m ww

25. Blink Twice–$2m / $46m* (see notes below) 

26. The Forge–$2m / $31m ww

27. Never Let Go–$2m / $13m ww

28. My Old Ass–$2m / $5m ww

29. Sam and Colby: The Legends of the Paranormal–$2m ww debut 

30. Love in the Big City–$2m ww debut 

31. Stree 2–$1m / $104m

32. Reagan–$1m / $29m ww

33. The Substance–$1m / $16m ww 

34. Am I Racist?–$1m / $12m 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 24 days 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.

Of course the big news is Joker: Folie à Deux, which began with bad buzz as opening day approached. Then the people who saw it first really hated it. Someone suggested it might have opened better if they hadn't played at a festival first. Well, maybe a little, but that's beside the point. Critics and audiences found the film hugely disappointing. And not because it's a quasi-musical. Beetlejuice has several dance numbers and sends people home singing "Macarthur Park" so just leave any perceived problems out of it. (And Deadpool and Wolverine's best bit includes Madonna's "Like A Prayer." Just saying. Also, anyone second guessing Joker 2 and its $190m budget is crazy. The first made an extraordinary $1 billion worldwide, director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix deserved much more upfront (they certainly won't see it on the back end) and then Lady Gaga signed up to give the musical legitimacy. It was a reasonable bet. 

The good news, however, is all about The Wild Robot. It held very nicely and has more in the bank than Transformers One, which opened a week earlier. On the other hand, everyone who suddenly decided not to see Joker 2 might give Transformers One another chance. Probably not, but I'm just hoping. I actually saw a double bill of The Wild Robot and Transformers One at my local drive-in. The Wild Robot was less annoying than I expected and low-key clever as a service robot lost on an island decides its task is to raise a baby goose and prepare it for its first migration. Oh, lessons were learned and lots of hugging happened, but they didn't come hard and fast until the finale. Otherwise quite enjoyable. Then my car radio wouldn't work for Transformers One so I still haven't seen that one. 

In China, National Day kicked off a slew of big new movies and so far we have three clear winners. They include director Chen Kaige's Korean war sequel The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death, the sci-fi action film Bureau749 and the revenge drama Tiger Wolf Rabbit. Check out the notes for each film below for the inside scoop; The Volunteers in particular is an interesting one. 

A friend asked me if Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis might become a cult hit, the immediate question studios ask themselves when a movie crashes and burns. I haven't seen it. But usually a future cult hit will have some remarkable or interesting aspect to it, something championed by an ardent few. I've seen nothing but critical dislike, even as some pan for gold and declare it nicely shot or that Aubrey Plaza triumphs. Not enough. And the few friends with arty taste who saw it really hated it and said it's not even enjoyably bad. Oh and the idea that Coppola was a misunderstood genius in the past is nonsense, ChatGPT trailer or no ChatGPT trailer . The Godfather was praised and won every award in sight, while dominating the box office. The Godfather Part II and The Conversation were both wildly acclaimed in 1974, with both nominated for Best Picture. They couldn't both win but in no way were they misunderstood. The Godfather Part II  was a critical and commercial watershed while The Conversation was immediately acclaimed; its stock has only risen since then. And it was so modestly budgeted I think it counts as a box office winner, though nowhere near the success of The Godfather Part II. Finally, Apocalypse Now was certainly high drama, even before it was released and had reviews all over the map. But by and large it was praised, a box office smash and won the top prize at Cannes and received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Hardly scorned. (It lost to Kramer Vs. Kramer. The other nominees were All That Jazz, Breaking Away and Norma Rae. Really, the Academy couldn't go wrong that year. 

China box office hit $5.1b for the year, while North American box office is at $6.2b (sure, cheat by including Canada, NATO!). 

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

2. 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. (I'm assuming that was the total cost for both films.) 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, so it doesn't seem so big and the total is $240m or so for three films, 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.

3. Bureau 749–Chinese sci-fi film. From the trailer, it's the present/near-future and some sort of alien attack is taking place. That means Bureau 749 must spring into action, a military group of some sort that recruits a hot young guy who is an outcast because of his "deformities" (he has some scarring on his back) and yet will prove vital to fighting off the creatures somehow or other. The only English language review I saw was not kind. 

4. 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. 

5. 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).

6. 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.    

7. 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. 

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! 

10. 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. 

11. 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!

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

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

14. Alien: Romulus–a reported $80mb  

15. 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! 

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

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

18. 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. 

19. Veteran 2: I, The Executioner–A South Korean crime drama often simply called I, The Executioner and sequel to the 2015 hit film Veteran. The original cost $5mb and grossed more than $90m worldwide, so a sequel was inevitable, delayed only by the COVID pandemic. I am assuming the sequel cost $7mb but the numbers are a little unclear. Nonetheless, even if the budget doubled they should be in good shape. 

20. Megalopolis–a reported $140mb means Francis Ford Coppola is not pulling off a miracle a la Apocalypse Now, not this time, unfortunately. 

21. New Happy Dad and Son 6: Shrunk–the latest in a string of low budget animated Chinese films, this one with a Honey, I Shrunk The Kids angle. Since the second in the series only grossed $12m and they've made four more, I assume it's extremely low-budgeted. 

22. Give You A Candy–Chinese film I'm unable to get any info on. 

23. The Hutong Cowboy–A Chinese comedy about an older taxi driver humiliated at his son's wedding. But he somehow becomes an online influencer and his life improves in every way that matters. Plus he wears a cowboy hat. 

24. Howl's Moving Castle–($24mb) Grossed $236m prior to latest re-release in 2024. 

25. Blink Twice–Hahahaha. Last week I was flummoxed when the total gross for Blink Twice suddenly jumped to $68m ww according to both Wikipedia, The Numbers and Box Office Mojo. Well, something had gone klabooey and got corrected because this week the movie is back down to $46m. Two weeks ago I had it at about $44m, so I've just pretended it grossed $2m this week for neatness's sake. The total is now $46m and since the budget was at least a reported $20mb, I've removed the film's designation as a winner from box office alone. Nonetheless, given Chris Pine and the other names involved, I'm sure it will be profitable enough for everyone involved and a solid first effort commercially by director Zoë Kravitz. 

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

27. 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. 

28. 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. 

29. Sam and Colby: The Legends of the Paranormal–YouTubers who "investigate" the paranormal take their schtick to the big screen with this documentary. 

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

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

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

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

34. Am I Racist?–With a reported budget of $3mb, this is a right wing documentary mocking efforts to improve diversity in society, focusing on D.E.I. initiatives. It fooled participants a la Borat. And with $9m so far, it's a big hit for a documentary film. (And yes, you are.)

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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