I think the only obstacle is that if sex and the cities audience were infrequent cinema goers, mamma mias audience are "almost never" cinema goers.

getting that audience into theaters is not impossible (Passion of the Christ) but is a challenge nonetheless.

Who do you think is its audience? Little old ladies or something? I think that's bullshit. Mamma mia has wider appeal than Sex and the city.

Go Mamma Mia!

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798 ... id=13&cs=1

Don't be facetious, Mamma Mia's audience is clearly and markedly older than Sex and the City's.

Whilst Sex and the City got a range of late teens through to late thirties into theaters, Mamma Mia's audience starts late 20s and extends through to 60s, but the appeal of the film itself will broaden it just as with SATC.

What makes you think so?

Great for Hancock, Kung Fu Panda and Mama Mia, very nice drop for Indy 4, only a 30% drop from last weekend, and as always it should be underestimated a bit.

Universal's "Mamma Mia!" came out singing overseas ahead of its domestic launch, dominating in English-speaking markets with $24 million on just 1,368 screens in a dozen territories for a stunning $17,536 per-location average.

The tuner, along with Sony's "Hancock," "Kung Fu Panda" and the Asian-territories debut of John Woo's "Red Cliff," set a torrid pace for a sizzling international box office frame. The four films combined for nearly $160 million, underscoring the resurgence of offshore biz after the Euro Cup soccer tourney held down moviegoing in June.

Given the competition from the top four pics, distribs and exhibs opted for modest day-and-date launches of the three domestic openers, with "Hellboy II" grossing a decent $5.3 million at 533, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" digging up $4.2 million in five markets and "Meet Dave" bagging a quiet $3.6 million at 918.

"Mamma Mia!" debuted smartly in the U.K. with $13.2 million and 34% share in the top Brit launch for a musical and U's fourth-best opening in that market. Australia greeted "Mamma" warmly with $5.2 million and a 28% share for U's second-best launch.

Scandinavia -- home to Abba, composers of the musical's songs -- saw stellar returns with $1.6 million in Sweden, $1.3 million in Denmark and $635,000 in Norway.

Though musicals generally have a soft track record overseas, "Mamma Mia!" looks likely to run counter to that trend thanks to the massive success of the 9-year-old stage version, the international cast and the feel-good themes. Universal Intl. prexy David Kosse said the opening came in far above internal forecasts.

In addition to its Stateside launch, "Mamma Mia!" expands next weekend into Austria, Germany and Holland.

In Asia, "Red Cliff" enjoyed a boffo start as part one of the historical epic bowed in five territories to an opening weekend north of $23 million.

Pic, the most expensive Asian film ever, dominated in China with rough estimates of a $14.6 million launch weekend along with $6 million in South Korea and $1.9 million in Taiwan.

Showbox, the movie's Korean investor and distributor, said the casting of Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro helped the pic score well with older demos.

In Hong Kong, the film faces stiff competition from "Kung Fu Panda" and "Hancock," which are still playing on large numbers of screens.

The path in China for "Red Cliff's" outing was largely clear, however, with considerably less competition. Also boosting its take is the fact that tickets to the biggest movies in China are often priced at premium rates on opening day.

Malaysia releases part one on Thursday, and Japan follows in November. The second part is skedded for January, likely coinciding with the Lunar New Year.

Action fans, meanwhile, continued flocking to "Hancock," giving the pic an impressive $71.4 million at 8,125 playdates in 66 markets). Pic has already hit $180 million internationally in a dozen days.

Holdover markets declined just 45% and Sony execs upped their forecasts for a final "Hancock" foreign gross in the range of $350 million to $400 million, maintaining Will Smith's sterling international record.

Par's "Kung Fu Panda" hit the family demo with a beefy $41 million at 6,236 in 55 markets. The toon is performing solidly with strong holds to cume nearly $216 million.

July has helped pull overall overseas biz for the six major studios to about even with same point last year, which went on to set a record with $9.5 billion by the end 2007. Par is leading the way this year with $1.3 billion, thanks to "Panda," "Iron Man" ($251 million) and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the year's top grosser at $441 million.

Fox is second with $1 billion, followed by Warner Bros. with $950 million, Disney with $750 million, U with $635 million and Sony with $580 million.

Disney's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" is the year's third-highest overseas grosser at $218 million, with another $12 million at 4,235 added over the weekend. And the Mouse House's "Wall-E," still early in its run but looking likely to be one of 2008's biggest international draws, took in $7.4 million at 1,130 to lift its cume to $33 million.


http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798 ... id=13&cs=1
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Quite amazing for Kung-Fu Panda. This is shaping up to be a really big worldwide hit. I see it topping $550 million worldwide with relative ease as it's going very strong and still has Italy, Japan and others ahead.


Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull has finally crossed $750 million worldwide. It might not reach $800 million anymore, but something around $775-780 million sounds right if it can maintain legs in Japan. Still, no other film this year will outdo it worldwide, except for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.


Red Cliff has gotten a huge start and should clear $100+ million internationally.


Prince Caspian's international takes are still disappointing, but at least steady. With Iatyl and Germany ahead as well as with some holdovers, it should secure $450+ million worldwide.


Iron Man has actually performed absolutely splendidly worldwide and should end up as one of the year's ten biggest worldwide grossers. Looks like it'll finish with $570 million WW.

Actually, Iron Man's overseas performance is quite dissapointing. It didn't show any international legs after a superb opening of $99 m. I think its overseas gross is depressing.

I'm sure Japan will drive it well over $570 m.

Oh, it still wasn't released there? I forgot that. Well, in that case, $600+ million obviously.


And it was definitely NOT disappointing. Just think of the international grosses of comic book adaptations. Iron Man is ahead of all of them and in most countries Iron Man really is an unknown property. Yet it made moreinternationally than any other comic book film except for the Spider-Man flicks.

But there were no legs after its great opening, and I pretty much don't care about the rest.

And this is why your opinion is wrong.

You can say "the legs were disappointing". Because the gross wasn't.

My opinion is never wrong by definition (check wikipedia on that account).
Its legs were dissapointing and that's why I'm dissapointed with the total gross. If it took the same amount after a smaller opening, then, yeah, I would be more pleased. But it just broke out in its first weekend, and pretty much died after.

Lol, so if it had made $350 million in its first weekend and then $500 million total you'd be disappointed too?

Now you got it! Great (and costly) marketing campaign can push any blockbuster to big numbers, but only WOM can pull it to longer legs. If the latter doesn't happen, we can thank the marketing department for good gross, but the overall picture is still not that impressive.

But the studio gets the highest percentage of the opening weekend. They're happy!

I don't know anything about profit sharing schemes, so I don't care about this either.

Clearly not...

Tales of Eathsea didn't have great legs since it received mixed reviews, everyone comparing Goro's first film to Hayao's past works. And Ponyo has received rave reviews as expected for a Hayao Miyazaki film, so it should have no trouble in the legs department (and as the article mentioned, it'll be in theatres until 2009). And while it's admissions were greater than Spirited Away's, it didn't open quite as high (96.6% of Spirited's opening), but Ponyo is going head to head with Pokemon the 14th? movie right now, and Pokemon is still big in Japan. And Ponyo skewing younger than most Miyazaki's past films (maybe out of all of them) more than likely prevented it from opening above Spirited Away's 15.5Mish. And apparently Spirited Away opened over a holiday weekend, so I think the 14.8M for Ponyo is very, very impressive.

Ponyo updated.

It's doing very, very well with the direct competion from Pokemon the 11th Movie.

As of last week (8/3), after 16 days of release and a 14M opening, it has grossed 48.8M coming off a 7.2M (-3% from it's second weekend) third weekend.


Top 5 of 2008 in Japan (as of 8/3):

1. Boys Over Flowers - 55.9M (37 days in release)
2. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea - 48.8M (16 days in release)
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 48.3M (44 days in release)
4. Aibô: gekijô-ban - 43M (90 days in release)
5. Za majikku awâ (The Magic Hour) - 34M (58 days in release)

I sorta figured out 4 and 5 on my own, but I think they are pretty close to the actual number and days in release. The top 3 are 100% accurate though. Damn BOM and their INTL section.

Taken is having excellent holds in Australia.

"International powerhouse "Mamma Mia!" continued to croon sweetly at the foreign box office, raking in $14 million at 4,539 playdates in 48 markets to lead an otherwise moderate frame.

Thanks to sensational holdover biz in every market, Universal's feel-good tuner has led the foreign B.O. for three straight frames and totaled a dazzling $334 million overseas -- 70% of its worldwide total of $475 million.

The pic's third South Korean frame fell only 29% to $2.9 million, and its 11th U.K. weekend declined 37% to $1.4 million for a Brit cume of $118.8 million, the fourth highest in that market after "Titanic" and the first editions in the "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings" series. "Mamma" declined 34% in its French soph sesh to $2 million and opened in first in Singapore with $399,000.

The Meryl Streep vehicle shows no signs of losing steam in foreign markets with a dozen territories to go, including next weekend in Russia and the following frame in Italy.

"Mamma" has proven a tonic at a time when international moviegoing's typically at a slow pace as studios opt not to go day-and-date with Stateside openings. This weekend's domestic leader, "Lakeview Terrace," won't launch in foreign markets until October, for example.

Universal, which remains by far the most active studio offshore, also saw solid numbers from "Wanted" with $11.6 million at 2,627 in 34 markets -- mostly from a socko $7.7 million Japanese launch. The Angelina Jolie starrer's gunned $172 million overseas, underlining the traction for action in foreign multiplexes.

"Tropic Thunder" took in $8.1 million at 1,649 in 26 territories, finding solid footing in Europe with victories in openings in the U.K. at $4.3 million and Germany at $1.5 million. The pic has cumed $29 million overseas, but may have difficulty matching its domestic total (now at $106.8 million) by the end of its run.

That's often the pattern among American comedies, with recent exceptions including "Sex and the City" with $253 million, "What Happens in Vegas" with $132 million and "Meet Dave" with $33.7 million (nearly triple its domestic cume). "Get Smart" has cumed $95.8 million overseas, and "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" is at $90.2 million near the end of its run; "Step Brothers" has hit $15.6 million from a dozen markets, and "Pineapple Express" is at $8.4 million in six.

Family fave "Wall-E" scooped up $6.6 million at 2,700, mostly thanks to No. 1 launches in Australia ($3.1 million), Greece and New Zealand. The Disney-Pixar vehicle's become the 10th pic released this year to top $200 million.

Two other summer successes padded their totals as "Hancock" took in $6.1 million at 1,515 to lift the foreign cume to $387 million and "The Dark Knight" grabbed $4 million at 3,500 to move its international box office to $455.7 million -- less than $10 million behind "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" as 2008's top overseas title.

With $522 million domestically, "The Dark Knight" is now only $22 million short of joining "Titanic," the final "The Lord of the Rings" film and the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" as the only films to gross $1 billion worldwide.

The frame also saw Warner Bros. win first place in Spain, as Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" opened to a solid $3.2 million -- more than double the debut of "The Strangers." Disney's Holocaust drama "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" performed impressively in its second Brit frame, with $895,000, down just 5%."


http://www.variety.com/article/VR111799 ... id=13&cs=1


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Mamma Mia! is a MONSTER. Its hold in France is okay, but nothing outstanding. However, its run so far in countries like South Korea, Germany or UK is simply splendid. This movie IS passing $400 million internationally and $550 million worldwide.


Solid for Wanted. It should make $335-340 million worldwide, I think. It still has China ahead.


Tropic Thunder is doing alright for a comedy overseas. It's #1 this weekend in Germany, but the opening is rather average (box-office is slow here right now). I think it'll crawl past $200 million worldwide, though.


Pretty incredible for What Happens in Vegas' total, BTW. Must be one of the most successful pure romcoms overseas in some time.


The Dark Knight is all but a lock for $1 billion worldwide. It think it'll stop at somewhere around $1.015 billion.


Hancock has opened in all of its territories and should finish its worldwide run with $630 million which is quite amazing for it, making it the 2nd-biggest Will Smith flick ever worldwide.


WALL-E now has some major markets to hit like Japan, Germany and Italy, but its overall overseas run has been slightly disappointing compared to Ratatouille and Kung-Gu Panda. I still expect it to make it to $500+ million worldwide, mostly thanks to a likely big success in Germany.


You Don't Mess with the Zohan still has a shot at becoming Sandler's biggest film overseas (it'd have to beat Click's $100 million). I think it's possible and should give Sandler his third worldwide $200+ million hit.