Sony’s Oscar winner, Little Women, originally began offshore rollout back in late December 2019, but continued to show off its grit at the international box office this weekend. The Greta Gerwig-directed update on the classic opened in Japan at No. 1 with $495K. In total, currently playing on 440 screens in 13 offshore markets, the weekend was worth $760K for a $99.5M overseas cume.
The century mark should be in the offing with strong play continuing in Denmark, and a China release still a possibility. Gerwig’s modern take on the 19th century novel was originally scheduled to hit Middle Kingdom movie theaters on February 14, but was caught in the coronavirus crisis which shuttered all of the market’s cinemas in late January.
In Japan, this is one of the first new titles to release as COVID-19 and its forced restrictions ease (an overall trend in the smattering of cinemas that are open around the globe has seen audiences respond to new product — and fresh re-releases).
In Denmark this weekend, Little Women was No. 1, down 15% from last session (cinemas have been re-opened there since May 21). The sophomore frame was worth $255K for a 10-day cume of $750K which is comparable to pre-COVID levels and ahead of the January releases in Sweden ($568K) and Norway ($694K) for the same point in time.
The Best Picture Oscar nominee, and a winner for Costume Design, has now grossed over $200M at the worldwide box office. It earlier landed at No. 24 in Deadline’s 2019 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament.
Also from Sony, Gyul-Baek (Innocence), a local language crime drama from Sony Pictures International Productions, debuted at No. 1 in Korea with a strong Naver audience score of 9.74. The five-day total is $2.4M from 985 screens. Written and directed by Park Sang-Hyun, the film centers on a lawyer who defends her long-estranged mother in a murder trial and in doing so uncovers the secrets of a small village. Korean cinemas are currently benefiting from a subsidy offered by local body KOFIC which sees normal ticket prices discounted from 60%-70%, and will be applied at all movie theaters and on all films until June 21. Last week’s champ, Intruder, from Acemaker and BA Entertainment, has now grossed $3.5M in the market.
We’ll update further international figures as they become available.