Refresh for latest…: As noted throughout the weekend, the big story coming from this international box office frame is the wild performance of Chinese blockbuster Ne Zha 2 and its record-breaking run as it became the first movie to ever gross $1B in a single market. Current Maoyan estimates have the title at RMB 8B ($1.1B) through today in China.
Based on those figures, the sequel is already the No. 7 animated film ever worldwide. Maoyan has again increased its projection for the full run in China, now forecasting RMB 12B ($1.65B). These projections tend to fluctuate, but if Ne Zha 2 were to reach that number, it would propel the film to become the No. 2 animated movie ever globally and the No. 11 film overall. Recall, that would be without any input from markets outside China where Ne Zha 2 begins rollout this week, including in the U.S. Watch this space.
The Imax total is $63.9M; after only 12 days of release, Ne Zha 2 is already the format’s highest grossing local language release of all time.
Elsewhere overseas, Hollywood holdover play continued before we get the first major studio tentpole of the year this coming week with Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World.
In the meantime, Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King was the top title offshore for the studios again this session, adding $8.5M (-29%) with strong holds in Brazil (+34%), Spain (-17%), Germany (-20%), Mexico (-24%) and France (-29%).
The international cume stands at $435.9M for $671.1M global with $700M in sight.
The Top 5 markets to date are: France ($40.5M), UK ($37.7M), Germany ($30.5M), Mexico ($30M) and Italy ($23.5M).
Ahead of its North America debut this coming Friday via Sony, Studiocanal’s Paddington in Peru has topped $100M overseas. That includes $7.5M from this weekend in 53 markets for a running $104M total, of which $19M comes from Sony releases.
Upcoming major offshore market releases include Korea, Italy and Spain this month, and Japan in May.
Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man expanded to a further 12 markets this session for a total 41 in release so far. The frame collared $6.6M to bring the international running cume to $11.9M. The global total so far is $66M.
Opening this weekend, the UK debuted to $4M at No. 1, above Kung Fu Panda 3, Trolls 3, Elemental, Trolls, The Boss Baby, DC Super Pets, and more than double The Bad Guys, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Captain Underpants.
Key markets still to come include Brazil, Australia, France, Germany and Korea.
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