Simpsons take on the world in 71 territories

Jeremy Kay in Los Angeles
27 Jul 2007 06:33
http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyA ... &Category=

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix will surge past $400m this weekend in what will be a tightly contested bout with the global release of The Simpsons Movie.

Warner Bros Pictures International's (WBPI) fifth Potter episode has raced to $395m and should continue to make strong gains in its third weekend.

However it may not remain at the top for a third consecutive weekend now that fans of the franchise will be wading through the seventh and supposedly final book in the series, which went on worldwide release on Saturday.

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Fox International's day-and-date launch of The Simpsons Movie will also provide a stern test. The eagerly awaited feature-length version of the 18-year TV series has impressed the critics and should prosper, given the property's longevity and global appeal.

The film launches on approximately 6,500 screens in 71 of its 94 territories this weekend. Eight of the top 15 territories are included in the first wave: the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, and Argentina.

Homer and family arrive in Mexico on Aug 1, Italy in September, and Japan later in the year.

Die Hard 4.0 has no major releases scheduled this weekend and stands at $165m, while Fantastic Four; Rise Of The Silver Surfer opens in Holland and has grossed $108.8m to date.

The newly minted Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International (WDSMPI), formerly Buena Vista International, has crossed $1bn in overseas grosses for the 13th consecutive year.

The unprecedented feat was driven by the extraordinary success of Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End, which overtook its predecessor's $642.2m mark this week to become the fourth biggest international release in history.

"We're extremely proud and this reflects the fantastic management team we have in the international territories that has been in place in most cases since this record-setting streak began," vice president of international theatrical sales and distribution David Kornblum said.

"We're particularly impressed that this result has been capped off by the performance of Pirates 3. It's a testament to our partners in exhibition and a dedicated marketing and sales team, and of course a great movie that has been embraced by audiences in such a big way."

Currently standing at $642.4m, At World's End has broken four speed records so far, crossing $300m in nine days, $400m in 12, $500m in 20, and $600m in 38.

Only three films have amassed more money overseas. Titanic leads the pack with a seemingly unassailable $1.2bn, followed by The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King on $741m, and Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone on $651m.

WDSMPI's Ratatouille still has a long way to go but currently stands at $40.2m. The Pixar release opens in four Asian markets this weekend including South Korea on Jul 27 and Japan on Jul 28.

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Should be one of the most interesting weekends ever.....a lot of variety and one mega opener....early signs are that Simpsons will easily be a $100m opener or very close...

395m$ by Wednesday....that means 14m$ for Wednesday.....going well...

I hope it drops like a stone. The movie was huge crap

And this from someone who's country loves Shrek

This is from someone who thinks that HP5 is the best book of the whole series.

And especially from someone who liked Pirates of the Crappybeans 3.

Potter going great right now. Only needs 285 million to pass 900 and that just seems like a matter of time. Should be over 700 million after this weekend.

It won't be over 700m WW after this weekend. It needs 84m $ and with US making around 16-17m $ this weekend it would need to make 67m $ OS. With Simpsons and Transformers opening in Europe I think it's impossible.

Summer franchises fulfill promise

International audiences surrender to Hollywood
By DAVE MCNARY
'Shrek the Third'
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111796 ... id=13&cs=1

The summer of 2007 has lived up to its promise on the international side, validating the big bets placed by studios on mega-franchises.

For the first time ever, five summer films - Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," Sony's "Spider-Man 3," Warner's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and Paramount's "Shrek the Third" and "Transformers" - will gross over $400 million outside the United States.

Last year saw four tentpoles ("Pirates 2," "The Da Vinci Code," "Ice Age 2," "Casino Royale") go past $400 million internationally but only two managed the feat during the summer season.

International audiences have surrendered this summer to formula of bringing together big stars, special effects and easy-to-understand storylines.

Only 25 films, including the third versions of "Pirates" and Spidey, have ever crossed the $400 million milestone that club's going to expand soon. Both "Shrek 3" (at $388 million as of Tuesday) and "Harry Potter 5" ($381 million on Tuesday) should become new members this weekend.

And "Transformers" has been a breakout success internationally, already hitting $200 million overseas without yet opening in the four biggest markets - the France, Germany, Japan and the U.K. -- and rivals believe it's likely to wind up well over $400 million internationally.

The foreign coin's been particularly helpful in burnishing the overall performance of the third versions of "Pirates," "Spider-Man" and "Shrek" - all which saw domestic totals edge down from the second iteration. The size of the international contribution to the worldwide total grew from 60% to 68% on "Pirates 3"; from 52% to 62% on "Spider-Man 3"; and from 52% to 55% on "Shrek 3."

"Spider-Man 3" took in over $550 million outside the United States, 25% higher than "Spider-Man 2"; "Shrek the Third" has already taken in 84% of the final foreign gross for "Shrek 2"; and "Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End" hit a milestone Tuesday with $642.3 million in foreign grosses as it eclipsed its predecessor and became the fourth highest grosser of all time.

After nine weeks, it's still at 2,958 international playdates so it may be able to catch "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" at $651 million for the third slot. But it obviously won't surpass "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" at $742 million or "Titanic" at $1.2 billion.

The presence of so many tentpoles in the foreign marketplace this summer provoked concerns that they might cannibalize each other. But Disney execs believe the opposite may have occurred.

"Getting people out of the house for big event movies like ours leads to them getting out of the house again," noted Anthony Marcoly, president of Walt Disney Motion Picture Group Intl. "I've always been a big believer in the idea that a competitive environment presents opportunities."

Along the way, "Pirates 3" set records for best five-day opening international weekend at $216 million, fastest to $300 million (nine days), $400 million (12 days), $500 million (20 days) and $600 million (38 days).

Coincidentally, Disney also topped the $1 billion in international grosses for this year, following in the footsteps of Sony and Warner Bros. It's the 13th year in a row that Disney's cleared the milestone.

Fox, which is opening "The Simpsons Movie" day and date in 71 foreign markets this weekend, should be hitting the $1 billion mark in the next few weeks in the wake of performances by the "Die Hard" and "Fantastic Four" sequels.

With Paramount making it past the mark by the end of the year, 2007 would be the first year that five studios have gone past $1 billion each in foreign grosses.

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I think it's gonna be a couple years before we see 5+ $400m grosses in Summer again.......maybe yearly but not Summer.

Let's hope 2010, lives up to early rumours of having HP7, Pirates 4, Spiderman 4, Shrek 4, Narnia...etc. again...

It looks like AWE could very well beat Potter 1 (OS). Just 8M away now, after adding almost 3M this weekend apparently.

HP5 should be around 463m$ in OS now....

Domestic: $241,771,000 34.9%
+ Foreign: $450,000,000 65.1%
= Worldwide: $691,771,000

Good. It will pass Shrek 3 very soon.

50m$ weekend with 51.2% drop...doesn't look good for HP

Doesn't look good? It's at $450m, in a week's time that figure will increase to around $500m. With approximately a minimum total of $580m, how's that not good?

Come on! It was suppose to destroy AWE OS

580m$?....that will putt its WW total around 860m$....no.3 this year.....i don't think anyone was expecting anything less than 600m$ in OS??....it needs 620m$ in OS for clearing 900m$ WW which seems pretty difficult now....

I think it will pass 600 overseas. 620 is going to be tough. I can't imagine what this would have done in the winter time.

its heading for 290 states side, and 625 overseas....

Why? GOF barely did it, TPOA made 540m, TCOS 614m? Why should OOTP be a lock for 600m?

And i said 580m as minimum. Could still make 600m.

Pretty much the same. You Potter fans need to get it in your head that around 280m/600m is pretty much the high end of a Potter flick. The 6th one won't change that, only the 7th - being the last - could potentially get a little higher, something like 320m/660m.

it would have done less in the u.s. had it opened in winter time...july weekdays are making it do huge.

Being weak $$ and OS markets emerging bigger than ever it was expected a bit more from OOTP in OS.....see the jump of SM3 from SM2....not of that level jump but 600m$ should have came in easily.....and Pirates delivering 640m$+ consecutively....may be seems that HP market had remain constant and haven't expanded at all in OS nomatter what....

when your getting 600 million roughly everytime, its kind of hard to "expand"....

I was thinking less competion actually. I don't think it would have done much more in the U.S honestly. I would think it do more overseas mainly because movies seem to do better there, especially in Europe during the Fall and winter. Now of course it might have only done 10-30 million dollars more because of that. I do agree the last one will do big bucks and will probably be the highest of the series and could make a billion WW.