SUNDAY UPDATE, Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros/New Line/DC’s Black Adam has launched to a $73M weekend from 76 international box office markets. Along with domestic’s $67M start, the global bow is $140M. The offshore debut is at the high end of the range we saw coming into the weekend, while worldwide is slightly ahead.
The Dwayne Johnson-starrer was No. 1 in the vast majority of its overseas openings, and the top U.S. title in each of them. In like-for-likes, and using today’s exchange rates, the start is tracking 27% ahead of Shazam!.
While critics have been down on Black Adam, working in its favor — somewhat surprisingly for an edgy flick — is the family audience. For example, Australia saw a 90% jump from Friday to Saturday, Korea was up 98% and France +67%. Audiences have given the movie a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is the best for a DC movie in a decade.
The movie performed especially well in markets where DC excels, including Latin America and parts of South East Asia (breakdown to follow below).
In IMAX, Black Adam grossed $10.8M globally, including $4.5M from 343 offshore screens.
There are two clear weekends ahead for Black Adam before Black Panther: Wakanda Forever gets going.
In holdover action, Paramount’s Smile just gets wider as the scarer added $10M for an $82M offshore total. Globally, it’s at $166.3M.
Last weekend’s leader, Universal/Blumhouse’s Halloween Ends saw a 62% drop, adding $6.2M in 75 markets for an overseas cume of $27.8M which is above Halloween Kills at the same point. The global total is $82M. International is surpassing Don’t Breathe 2 and Spiral this session, while Latin America has overtaken the lifetime of Halloween Kills at current rates.
Universal/Working Title’s Ticket to Paradise finally bowed domestically this frame and is now closing in on $100M global with $96.6M through Sunday.
Also notable, Disney began offshore release of Searchlight’s The Banshees of Inisherin with an impressive No. 2 start in the UK behind Black Adam.
Breakdowns are being updated below.
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BLACK ADAM
Beginning offshore rollout on Wednesday, Black Adam grew to a $73M start in 76 markets. The top bows were led by the UK ($6.1M), which is tracking ahead of comps Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle by 33%, Shazam! by 37%, Jungle Cruise by 141% and Skyscraper by 269%.
Mexico ($5.3M) was next with a 71% share of the Top 5 and tracking roughly on par with Shazam! as well as 48% above Skyscraper, +81% ahead of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and 396% over Jungle Cruise.
Regionally, the DC entry was the 3rd biggest opening for a Warner Bros title in Latin America since the pandemic began. Notably in Brazil ($4.9M), this was the second best start for WB during the pandemic and well ahead of comps.
Australia ($4.7M) came in well ahead of Shazam!, Skyscraper and Jungle Cruise. France ($3.7M) also handily beat comps and is seeing strong performance at leading multiplexes. Overall in Europe, BA topped Shazam! by 48%.
In Asia, the Jaume Collet-Serra-directed pic is running 7% ahead of Shazam! Impressive bows there include Malaysia ($2.2M) which is the biggest opening during the pandemic era for a WB title and Taiwan ($2M) with 91% market share, and the biggest of 2022 for a WB film as well as the second-biggest opening for Johnson. In Indonesia ($1.4M), the movie captivated 98% market share and was WB’s biggest opening during pandemic era. Philippines ($1M) is WB’s biggest opening of the pandemic and its best since Joker.
India is a real standout with $3.5M for the second-biggest DC opening and fifth biggest WB opening ever.
Japan is still to come on December 2.
MORE…
PREVIOUS, SATURDAY UPDATE: Black Adam added a host of 19 markets on Friday and has now cumed $30.2M through its first three days at the international box office. Friday rocked $15.8M with the Dwayne Johnson-starrer ranking as the No. 1 U.S. film in all 76 markets in release. With these results, we are still eyeing the $70M range for the opening weekend overseas.
In new starts, Friday added the UK with $2M on 1,500 screens and ranking a clear No. 1 with 58% share of the Top 5 films. The results are +52% over Shazam!, 53% ahead of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, 129% above Jungle Cruise and 291% ahead of Skyscraper. IMAX share was a very solid 9% of the total box office.
Also joining the fray, Spain debuted on Friday to $587K on 689 screens. Black Adam dominated the market with nearly 60% share of the Top 5; premium formats are performing very well capturing 4.6% of the total box office. Opening day results are tracking ahead of Jumanji 2 (+38%), Shazam! (+79%), Skyscraper (+187%) and Jungle Cruise (+231%).
Currently, the Top 5 markets through Friday are the UK ($2M), Mexico ($1.9M), Brazil ($1.8M), India ($1.7M) and Australia ($1.7M).
Anecdotally, we are hearing the family play is stronger than expected.
More to come on Sunday…
PREVIOUS, FRIDAY: Warner Bros/New Line/DC’s Black Adam began rolling out at the international box office on Wednesday, and through Thursday has rocked to $13.8M from 57 markets. Today adds the UK and Spain as overseas release continues.
Initial markets to go on Wednesday included France and Korea. In the former, the Dwayne Johnson-starrer has grossed $1M through its first two days. In Korea, the movie leads all play by a wide margin. It is following the typical cycle in the market of a top start on Wednesday, then a drop on Thursday, and a bounce on Friday and has a running cume of $1.3M through today (that total is not reflected in the two-day offshore cume above).
A notable start on Thursday was India with $1M which marks the second biggest ever debut for Warner Bros and the biggest also for DC. The Diwali holiday is ahead.
Elsewhere, Mexico’s $850K Thursday start was 9% above Johnson-starrer Jumanji: The Next Level and 63% over his 2018 actioner Skyscraper.
In Australia, the $750K Thursday opening was 80% higher than Skyscraper and 87% above Shazam!
While an overseas weekend doesn’t really get borne out until we get Friday numbers, we are expecting Black Adam to land close to our projected opening range; critics are down on it, but fans are faithful. As Anthony reported, the domestic previews were robust.
Audiences are hungering for new product, and, wherever it lands, let’s hope this is the kickstart for times ahead.
More to come throughout the weekend…
