Refresh for latest…: While the horror genre was the biggest global draw this weekend, the results are far from horrific — and therein is something to be said about the communal experience of scary movies. New Line/Warner Bros’ The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It led the international box office with $26.8M from 43 markets while Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II saw its sophomore frame add $19.2M. The films were bolstered by domestic which continues to see audience appetite for returning to cinemas.
The Conjuring 3 went out early in just two offshore hubs last session and expanded with another 41 markets this weekend. The latest in the hit horror series that returns paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren has pushed the group of seven films to $1.86B global, the top horror franchise ever. For this James Wan-helmed installment, the overseas total is now $33.1M and $57.1M worldwide.
Conjuring 3 ranked No. 1 in 31 of its launch markets this frame and, in like-for-likes, is tracking 12% above Annabelle and 30% over the first Conjuring at today’s rates. Mexico, which leans into horror, was the top play this weekend with $6.7M at 3,090 locations. As Korea rebounds, it put Conjuring 3 at No. 1 for a $3.1M start at 900 sites. Coming out of its sophomore session, the UK leads all play at $7.5M. There are still 29 markets to come over the next few months (see more to come below).
After debuting to a fantastic $22M in just 12 markets last weekend, the John Krasinski-helmed A Quiet Place Part II picked up another $19.2M in 16 markets. That takes the offshore running total to $50M and worldwide to $138M. Markets in release overseas currently rep 47% of the international footprint. On a like-for-like basis, AQP2 is running 15% ahead of the original 2018 hit. The UK and Russia saw notable No. 1 debuts with a respective $5.1M and $4M, including previews. In China, the drop was just 52% for a market total of $29M — Maoyan has raised its projections on the film to RMB 233.7M ($36.5M) which would be higher than the previous entry’s RMB 221M.
Also after debuting last frame, Disney’s Cruella saw a scant 7% drop in those same opening markets, taking $18.6M in a total of 36 material territories. That lifts the offshore cume to $43.4M and gives the Emma Stone-starrer a worldwide total of $87.1M. Cruella kicked off in China today, a rare Sunday launch, and grossed $1.8M at No. 4. The early social scores are encouraging with a 9.2 on both Maoyan and Tiao Piaopiao, however the Douban critical score is fairly low at 6.8. Maoyan is currently projecting a dismal $5M finish, although that’s after only one day of play and the service is known to update its estimates. The coming weekend in China adds Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway as well as Alibaba’s Are You Lonesome Tonight? (aka Tropical Memories) and a pair of animated films from China and Japan.
Still topping China’s box office, Universal’s F9 has crossed $250M internationally with $256M through Sunday in just eight markets. The weekend was worth $13.4M for a 57% drop from the last session, which had seen a hefty 81% dip.
In China, F9 has now overtaken Godzilla Vs Kong to become the biggest Hollywood movie to release during the pandemic. It’s grossed an estimated RMB 1.3B ($203.8M) to date, on par with Hobbs & Shaw at the same point in release. The latter film topped out at RMB 1.43B. Maoyan currently predicts that F9 won’t match Hobbs & Shaw, landing at RMB 1.38B, but time will tell as the film was again No. 1 this weekend and has no similar demo competition ahead of it. The gross through Sunday gives Universal bragging rights to six movies that have crossed the $200M milestone in the Middle Kingdom, the most ever for a single studio (above Disney’s five). In Korea, F9 is running 16% below Furious 7 with a cume of $17.7M to notch the biggest gross for a Hollywood movie across both 2020 and 2021. There are still many markets to come which will begin with Australia on June 17 as rollout continues through the summer.
Columbia Pictures’ Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway scampered off with another $4M from 14 markets, down just 20% to cume $45.8M ahead of its China and North American releases this coming Friday.
And, we are hearing that Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train has indeed passed the $500M global mark, but are still waiting on those pesky official figures to attribute a precise number.
Breakdowns on the films above and more are being updated below.
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