international box office Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Italy Wins Release-Window Battle
Filed under: Action », Foreign Language », New Releases », Universal », Box Office », Distribution », Exhibition », Home Entertainment », Remakes and Sequels », Cinematical Indie »
It's been awhile since we've seen the debate over release-windows. Maybe now that the Box Office Slump of '05 has long since past, and the issue with day-and-date releases has made the debate almost obsolete, theaters just aren't complaining as much. At least in America, anyway. Last week, distributors and exhibitors throughout Italy were furious about Universal's plan to release Miami Vice on DVD exactly two months after its release in cinemas there. The movie, based on the '80s TV-show, opened in the country on October 6 via United International Pictures and it was planned to be out on video December 6. The head of the Italian exhibitors' association ANEC threatened legislative intervention and Warner Village Cinemas actually stopped playing the pic. All the protesting and boycotting helped. On Friday it was announced that Universal would change the DVD date to January, which would lengthen the window to the usually honored three months. Unfortunately, the win by distributors and exhibitors probably won't change the success of the movie at the box office. In its first four weeks, Miami Vice made only a little more than $4 million. Comparatively, in the same amount of time Woody Allen's Scoop made almost $5 million, World Trade Center has made $6.5 million and The Devil Wears Prada has made close to $15 million. And obviously, Miami Vice didn't even figure into the top 20 this past weekend thanks to it being pulled from so many screens. So, maybe, just maybe, Italians aren't that into the movie, and it wouldn't really matter if the DVD came out next week. Or, it could be the matter of it opening so late, since in countries like the UK and France, where it opened closer to its release in the U.S., grosses were pretty decent.
[via In Focus Magazine Newswire; box office numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo]
Superman "Solid" Internationally
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Warner Brothers », Box Office », Remakes and Sequels »
Despite the fact that it took the top spot in all 11 markets in which it opened, Superman Returns' international debut is being described as solid but not spectacular; the film took in about $20 million on 1750 screens. Cleverly opening only in countries no longer interested in the World Cup, Warner Bros' greatest hope surpassed Batman Begins in all but one of those markets, and topped X-Men: The Last Stand's impressive first weekend in seven of them. The film did particularly well in Korea and the Philippines, where it opened on a record 81 screens (though it still failed to top Spider-Man 2's massive debut there). In other, undeniably good news, foreign markets are going bonkers for the IMAX version of the movie -- in the Philippines, the country's only IMAX theater is showing Superman Returns, and it's sold out through late July. Once the World Cup is over (that's this weekend, for those of you not following along), the film will start expanding in earnest, opening next Friday in much of Europe in South America; the numbers from that weekend will be a true test of the film's power abroad.
Fox Crosses Billion Dollar Threshold, Thanks Animated Squirrel
Filed under: Action », Animation », Comedy », Box Office », 20th Century Fox », Family Films », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
Thanks primarily to the massive appeal of both Ice Age: The Meltdown and X-Men: The Last Stand, Fox International on June 9 became the first studio to pass $1 billion in international sales this year, reaching that mark in record-breaking time. Industry-watchers are mucho impressed by the studio's strength -- crossing that threshold only six months into the year is a sign of serious strength, apparently, particularly "in today's highly competitive international marketplace." Fox won the race to $1 billion last year as well, but that success came nowhere near this fast. Of course, when you've got one movie -- Ice Age 2 -- pulling in $441 freaking million, that gives you a pretty good push towards that billion dollar goal.In addition to Ice Age 2, major profit-drivers for the studio thus far have been X3 ($160.1 million), Walk the Line ($64.8 million) and, troublingly, The Pink Panther and Big Momma's House 2, which made $74.4 million and $64.3 million respectively. Yikes. Yet to come from Fox this year are such potential moneymakers as My Super Ex-Girlfriend, The Devil Wears Prada, Night At The Museum and, sigh, Garfield 2.
The View From Abroad: Screen Daily in 60 Seconds
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Foreign Language », Thrillers », Casting », Deals », Box Office », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
Even though it played on only half as many
screens as Steve Martin's latest, it's still disturbing to read that
V
for Vendetta was beaten to the top of the
international box office by the dreadful The
Pink Panther. Now showing in countries including Germany, Hong Kong, and Australia, the comedy made a total of
$12.3 million for the weekend to only $8.5 million for Vendetta, which nevertheless dominated the charts in
the Asian markets in which it opened.
- If anyone needed a sign that relations between
North and South Korea are thawing, this is it: a South Korean film about a Northern spy is expected to be shot in Pyongyang, the capitol of the
North. The movie, tentatively titled Yun Isang, The Wounded Dragon, will be shot in both Pyongyang and
Germany, which is where Yun, a well-known composer, both spied and ended up living after he was released from
prison.
- Hong Kong's Media Asia announced its slate for the next year this weekend, and among the eight-to-ten projects in the works are a pair from Infernal Affairs directors Andrew Lau (the director, not the actor) and Alan Mak. The first, Behind the Sin, stars Tony Leung #1, and is about "a cop and...a private detective - who investigate the murder of the cop's father-in-law." The second, meanwhile, is an untitled period piece set in 1940s Hong Kong which "revolves around a trader from mainland China who moves to Hong Kong, attempts to set up a business and inevitably gets mixed up with local gangsters."
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