WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 17, 2024
A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide gross. I begin with data from
Comscore and then pull from every other source available.
1. Gladiator II–$87m worldwide debut
2. Red One–$55m / $82m ww total
3. Venom: The Last Dance–$42m / $436m ww
4. The Wild Robot–$17m / $309m ww
5. Heretic–$12m / $28m ww
6. Paddington in Peru–$12m / $24m ww
7. To Gather Around aka Sheng Quan Zai Wo–$11m ww debut
8. Amaran–$9m / $33m ww
9. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$9m / $20m ww
10. Kanguva–$9m ww debut
11. Smile 2–$8m / $132m ww
12. Anora–$8m / $20m ww
13. Terrifier 3–$7m / $85m ww
14. Cesium Fallout–$7m / $32m ww
15. Conclave–$6m / $28m ww
16. We Live In Time–$5m / $29m ww
17. The Substance–$4m / $51m ww
18. The Untold Story–$4m / $15m ww
19. The Young Couple Apartment–$4m / $11m ww
20. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince–$3m / $937m ww
21. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–$3m / $42m ww
22. I'm Still Here–$3m / $4m ww
23. Here–$2m / $12m ww
24. Small Things Like These–$2m / $4m ww
25. Hear Me: Our Summer–$2m / $4m ww
26. A Real Pain–$2m / $3m ww
27. Hello, Love, Again–$2m ww debut
28. Her Story aka Hao Dong Xi -- $1.5m ww debut
29. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–$1m / $451m ww
30. Joker: Folie à Deux–$1m / $206m ww
31. Singham Again–$1m / $42m ww
32. Road to Ninja: Naruto The Movie–$1m / $22m
33. The Apprentice -- $1m / $12 ww
34. Amazon Bullseye–$1m / $4m ww
35. Absolution–$1m / $3m ww
36. Elevation–$1m / $2m ww
37. Devils Stay–$1m ww debut
Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's a good marker to indicate a big hit.
ANALYSIS
Ok, now it's getting serious. The North American box office needs $1.3b just to cross the $8b mark for the year. That would be a reasonable goal given how few films have opened. (We'll be down 25% in wide releases so box office will likely be down 25%, if we're lucky.) The problem with this thinking is that fewer movies allow people to get out of the habit entirely. Well, that won't be much of a problem for the rest of the year. We're going to have big movies most every week from now through New Year's.
Up first? Red One. This would be Christmas action-comedy wants to be a staple like Die Hard. It opened poorly (though audiences liked it) and analysts can't decide if they should call it a flop or grade on a curve because Amazon doesn't care about box office. Uh huh. First, when you spend $250mb on an action film starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, you'd be crazy not to give it a theatrical release. Look how much more valuable Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be for years to come thanks to being a worldwide smash (and a hit, based on its more modest budget). Are folks saying if Red One went straight to streaming it would be a winner? If people don't like a movie, avoiding a theatrical release won't make them like it more. But let's not jump the gun. The movie looks like it won't do that well. Still, it's got a long way to go and maybe the Christmas theme will give it unexpected legs. The audience scores are fine. Declaring a movie dead on opening week (or two) doesn't always make sense. Nonetheless, when you spend that much money on a big action film, it better work theatrically. And sending it straight to your streamer won't hide that fact. So a flop is a flop.
Also, folks are calling this the first Christmas-themed major studio release since 2018. Well, it's certainly the first $250mb Christmas-themed movie by anyone ever. But let's not forget 2019's Last Christmas (the romantic drama that took the Wham! hit's lyrics way too literally) or 2022's Violent Night, from Universal with David Harbour as a kick ass Santa. Both were hits and cost about $30mb, which is a decent budget historically for a holiday themed film. Just saying.
Gladiator II has made exactly the same amount worldwide and it cost the same amount. It's also been indifferently received by critics, yet no one is rushing to declare it D.O.A. I guess it helps when part I won the Best Picture Oscar. We shall see....
I'm thrilled for the success of Anora, one of the best films of the year. It and Conclave are both performing very well but I just like Anora more. (Sorry.) Things are really heating up with Wicked next week and Moana 2: The TV Series Turned Movie the week after that. Thanksgiving should be very interesting.
Here's a reminder about the annual box office. Studios are releasing about 25% fewer movies in 2024 than they did during the 2016-2019 pre-COVID era. That means we can reasonably expect the annual North American box office to reach about 25% less than that era's average box office. So look for about $8.3b for the year and call that a return to business as usual. Currently, North American box office is at $6.3b, with Thanksgiving and Christmas to go. Pump up the releases of all types of movies in 2025 and we have every reason to expect box office back in $10b-$11b territory.
NOTES
mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide
1. Gladiator II–$250mb (?) for Ridley Scott sword and sandals epic. Whether you think it cost $200mb or $250mb, it's going to be a tough haul for this film to cross $600m worldwide. It's got swords. It's got sandals. Does it have legs?
2. Red One–Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans action/Xmas comedy. A budget reportedly up to $250mb.
3. Venom: The Last Dance–$120m reported budget, so even if it collapses quickly, this one will be a winner. With Venom 1 hitting $850m and Venom 2 at just $500m, this is an old school franchise where each new entry seeing less and less interest. They were right to call it a day after #3, clearly.
4. The Wild Robot–$80mb. Ha! Based on prior films from DreamWorks Animation I guessed this film's budget was around $80mb. And Wikipedia now says its roughly $78mb. I rounded up $2m so I could be right on the dot (plus, the math is easier when tripling).
5. Heretic–reported $10mb horror flick starring Hugh Grant as a gent more than willing to invite two Mormons into his home to debate religious beliefs.
6. Paddington in Peru–$50mb? I'm just guessing. (That's sort of midpoint between the original and Paddington 2.) Sadly, three times is not the charm for this once-perfect franchise.
7. To Gather Around aka Sheng Quan Zai Wo–Chinese drama about workplace politics. The Chinese title is literally translated as "Guaranteed Victory." In English, it's also referred to as "Brave New World."
8. Amaran–Indian/Tamil action film. The budget is anything from $15mb to $24mb which is a huge range but I'll err on the side of caution. One of three big films that opened during Diwali festival.
9. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–$10mb for this holiday faith-based film based on the gentle 1972 novel. It's a more religiousy A Christmas Story.
10. Kanguva–Tamil action film reportedly $35-40m. Hugely elaborate via the trailer, with two timelines: one a millennia ago and another in the present. Whatever's going on, our hero is not a reluctant warrior.
11. Smile 2–a $28mb, which is a reasonable jump over the $17mb of the original Smile. That film grossed $217m worldwide. This won't get near that, but it doesn't need to do so.
12. Anora–no budget for Sean Baker's latest. But since the most he ever got before is $2mb, I'm assuming this isn't that much. It's opened pretty wide already, so I guess a real platform throughout awards season won't happen? A shame not to let this play into March 2025 where Conan O'Brien can give Anora her flowers. Still, it's already doubling The Florida Project, which made $11m off a $1mb.
13. Terrifier 3 -- a $2mb! Success, thy name is cheap horror films.
14. Cesium Fallout–Hong Kong disaster flick starring Andy Lau. A radioactive leak threatens the island.
16. We Live In Time–Andrew Garfield/Florence Pugh drama about a decades-spanning romance. Looks like another sleeper success for director John Crowley a la Brooklyn.
17. The Substance–$18mb reported for the Demi Moore body horror comeback. So I guess despite
all the back and forth on its grosses, this really is a winner now. In a Nov. 17, 2024 story for Deadline extolling the film's success and the streamer MUBI, they claim the film has a worldwide gross of $66.5m.
19. The Young Couple Apartment–Chinese film, perhaps a remake of 1987 Chinese film about lives of six young couples all living in same apartment building.
20. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince–the gang is back in action, at least in China where all eight Potter movies are being reissued, one a week. The later films seem to be grossing around $5m total, so this was hardly worth the bother, unfortunately. Before hitting China, the final films grossed the folllowing: Deathly Hallows I at $977m; Deathly Hallows II at $1.342b.
21. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3–Indian/Hindi supernatural comedy about a fake ghostbuster. The budget is $18mb. Part 2 made $32m ww total so this needs to do almost twice as much to be a hit from box office alone.
22. I'm Still Here–director Walter Salles drama about a Brazilian woman searching for her missing husband during the dictatorship of Brazil that lasted more than 20 years. Brazil's Oscar hopeful enjoyed acclaim and awards at Venice.
23. Here–a reported $50mb? My foot! Robert Zemeckis. Tom Hanks. Robin Wright. That's $50m right there, practically! Still, even if it did cost $50m and they all took scale for a big backend, this still doesn't look to be profitable. But maybe they'll love it overseas! That's why you bring in stars like Tom Hanks. Though I imagine few will cross the uncanny valley.
24. Small Things Like These–low budget Cillian Murphy drama about worker faced with knowledge of nuns treating young women abusively. Backed by Ben Affleck/Matt Damon production company.
28. Her Story aka Hao Dong Xi --Chinese drama, literally translated as "Nice One." Single mom moves in with another single gal; adventures ensue.
29. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice–a reported $100mb and good audience response means this is a winner right off the bat. Hardly a slam dunk, by the way. The original came out almost 35 years ago and only grossed $78m worldwide. So the sequel cost more than the entire first film's worldwide gross! That's not a recipe for success, normally. But the original only cost $15mb to make and everyone knew it enjoyed a long afterlife, thanks to tv reruns, Halloween, the Broadway musical and so on. Still, gamble it was and the gamble paid off.
30. Joker: Folie à Deux–a reported $190mb. This won't come close to $600m worldwide, so I'm afraid it's a flop. I think I announced in advance it would do very, very poorly. But I would never have guessed it would struggle to pass $200m ww.
31. Singham Again–Indian/Hindi action film w a $42mb. Fifth in Cop Universe franchise. Last film made $32m. This budget is five times bigger than Singham Return's $8mb.
32. Road to Ninja: Naruto The Movie– 2012 Japanese anime reissued in China. It was at $18m worldwide before its reissue in China in 2024.
33. The Apprentice -- with a $16mb, you can spin this either way politically. Liberals can say people didn't want to see the film because they're sick and tired of Trump. So he'll lose. Right wingers can say people didn't want to see a film that criticized in any way their beloved ruler. So he'll win. Both side-ism!
34. Amazon Bullseye–Korean sports comedy w a one-time archery medalist recruiting Amazon people w amazing archery skills and brings them back to Korea. Hilarity ensues.
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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