UPDATE: Super busy weekend at the international box office with Marvel/Disney’s Captain America: Brave New World and Universal/Working Title’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy both making their debuts while Chinese blockbuster Ne Zha 2 keeps zooming along — and also hit North America this session.
Captain America came in pretty much bang on worldwide projections with $192.4M (including domestic’s holiday Monday estimate). Of that, $92.4M is from 52 overseas markets through Sunday. The international bow is under the $110M we saw as a possibility before the weekend, though as cautioned, that included the swing market of China where Brave New World faced massive competition from Ne Zha 2.
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Anthony Mackie’s first full feature adventure carrying the shield opened No. 1 or No. 1 non-local in nearly all major markets as well as most smaller markets. The most significant market not at No. 1 was the UK where Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is having a love affair with audiences.
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Overall, Brave New World’s international opening is 4% ahead of Captain America: The Winter Soldier in like-for-like markets at current rates (and excluding China).
The Top 5 opening markets are: China ($10.5M), UK ($8.5M), Mexico ($6.6M), Korea ($5.6M) and France ($4.7M).
The Imax global opening was $18M including Monday’s domestic holiday.
While it’s a straight-to-Peacock release domestically, Universal/Working Title’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy has audiences reuniting with the romcom heroine in theaters internationally. Uni released the fourquel in 70 overseas markets this weekend to $32.3M. Including Studiocanal’s France release, the full debut this session is $35.5M.
The launch was the biggest for a Bridget Jones title in like-for-like UPI markets (and the biggest opening of the franchise in 41 markets including the UK & Ireland, Poland, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland).
What’s more, at current rates, Mad About the Boy achieved the biggest romcom opening of all time in like-for-like UPI markets, beating Sex and the City 2.
The UK was positively chuffed to see Renée Zellweger return to the titular role, grossing an estimated $14.8M at No. 1 and with 45% market share. This was the biggest bow ever for a romantic comedy (a record previously held by Bridget Jones 2) as well as the highest ever opening for a Working Title film. Mad About the Boy is the No.11 Universal opening of all time in the market, just behind Jurassic World Dominion and above the debut frames of Oppenheimer, Minions and Despicable Me 3.
In Australia, the cume through Sunday is $3.4M, in 2nd place behind fellow newcomer Captain America: Brave New World. This reps the biggest opening for a romcom since the start of the pandemic, overtaking Anyone But You, and is also above Bridget Jones 1 and Bridget Jones 3. Reviews are excellent, with a 100% approval from critics to date.
Poland opened to $2.2M at a clear No.1 and good for the biggest romcom start ever. Bridget 4 also already surpassed the total lifetimes of Ticket to Paradise, Me Before You and Sex and The City 2. Rounding out the Top 5, the Netherlands’ Ladies Night previews on Wednesday fed into a $1.9M weekend for the best romcom start ever. Spain placed Mad About the Boy at No.2 this weekend, with $1M. Future Universal markets still to release include Italy and Germany this month and Japan and Korea in April.
Studiocanal’s Paddington in Peru, which journeyed to North America this weekend, added $7.3M overseas in the frame to lift the offshore cume to $115.8M, of which $21.6M is from Sony markets. The global total is $128.8M through Sunday. Still ahead are Korea, Italy, Spain and Japan.
In China, Ne Zha 2 is still the top draw, reaching RMB 11.84B through Sunday ($1.63B). It’s the No. 11 film ever worldwide with just the China cume, but also opened in North America to $7.2M. Maoyan has revised its lifetime projection for China slightly downwards, to RMB 15.7B ($2.16B) which, if it gets there, would still make it the No. 5 movie ever globally.
In Imax, Ne Zha 2 is now the format’s highest grossing title ever in China with $104M, overtaking Avengers: Endgame.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Mufasa: The Lion King (DIS): $5.8M intl weekend (52 markets); $445.5M intl cume/$686.3M global
Dog Man (UNI): $4.2M intl weekend (47 markets); $17.6M intl cume/$85.5M global
The Brutalist (UNI): $3.4M intl weekend (33 markets); $16.5M intl cume/$31.1M global
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (PAR): $3M intl weekend (65 markets); $243.8M intl cume/$478.3M global
Companion (WB): $1.7M intl weekend; $14.2M intl cume/$33.3M global
Conclave (FNE): $1.4M intl weekend (43 markets); $65.1M intl cume/$97.2M global
The Three Investigators – Carpathian Dog (SNY): $1.1M (4 markets); $8.6M intl cume
I’m Still Here (SNY): $700K intl weekend (6 markets); $19.3M intl cume/$25.2M global