Shrek 4 being huge in Poland is not surprising at all.

The surprise was about TS3. It is interesting because I thought TS3 releasing early should have satisfied some of the families to watch Shrek4 on OW.

It's afterall the biggest franchise in Poland. I hate ur country for this Mesjarch.

Don't be a hater, Arch!

Shrek has a great dubbing with top polish actors giving their voices for the characters. And of course polish version is done for Poles, so we don't get US jokes because they are made into our own culture jokes, which makes Shrek movies even better for polish viewers. Madagascar and Ice Age are also using this way of selling it to polish viewers and it has effects.

That might be also the problem with Pixar movies. All the jokes and dialogue is so true to original that people are not that excited about it. Only movie when they went from the tradition was Finding Nemo and it became true blockbuster.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot to mention that Shrek always had a good marketing campaign. Pixar movies not so much.

Wait the minute, are you saying that the jokes are different and adapted to poles? I understand when certain word plays are adapted but the humour itself? What the hell...

Besides, you would need pretty much writers to do that. And give them more time.

^ agreed. I mean these dubs have got to take some more time to release and it does not make that much sense for them to spend that money but then again the actors might not be charging USD as well.

Well it is interesting to hear, thanks for the info Mesjarch
Another question now, how often do you see this pattern other than animation movies? Movies like Avatar and Alice did well so were they also "adapted" to Polish audience taste ?

Sorry maybe I didn't make myself clear. All the work is done with voice and text. No changes for animation.

Alice had polish dubbing and it was pretty good. Mostly animation gets dubbing, but sometimes actor movies also get dubbing, like Alice, HP movies, Star Wars movies, Asterix movies and movies made for younger audience ( Hannah Montana, HSM, Narnia etc.)

Most of the movies are in original version with subtitles.

As for those text changes they are mostly made in animation and Asterix movies, rest is just original text translated to polish.

Avatar had subtitles like most of the movies.

Well, that's not what I thought. In Russia 99% of the movies are dubbed in the theatres(that's why I'm always reluctant to go). But I don't think that jokes are somehow adapted much from US to Russian.

Based on today I would say that Shrek 4 will open to ~600k adm in Poland.

Opening record?

Not even close. And with today I'm not sure if 600k will even happen anymore. Looks like things didn't work so great for Shrek 4.

I'm pretty sure that Polish results are subdued because of the heatwave...

Shrek generated $4.6m for $13m this weekend in South Korea.
1,496,677 admissions now...

"No. 2 on the weekend was "Shrek Forever After" in 3D, which took first place in 16 of its 17 new markets on the weekend, grossing $56.2 million overall from 7,022 venues in 47 territories. Foreign cume for the fourth and presumably final title in the "Shrek" franchise stands at $210 million so far, with openings due this week in four new markets, including Mexico and Belgium.

In Brazil, "Shrek Forever After" set a market opening record for an animation title with $7.4 million from 456 spots. In World Cup-crazy Spain, "Shrek" still managed $5.2 million from 626 venues while it drew $3.2 million in its Argentina bow at 141 spots (for a $22,695 per-screen average), a market opening gross record."

THR

Shrek just took TS3's opening record in Argentina.

That would have to be pretty close to an OW record in Brazil as well...

Any idea which of the 17 markets it didn't open to No.1 in?

Excellent number. I think everyone is concentrating on TS3 but the numbers Shrek 4 is making are excellent everywhere. Still 500m OS for this looks out of reach but it is matching TS3 everywhere

It now has Italy, Japan and Iceland ahead. Italy is the only remaining market in which it'll be pretty big.

While $400 million will happen now, I don't think it'll top Shrek the Third's $476 million OS. The ceiling should be at around $450 million and less than $700 million worldwide...

Now that's a bit disappointing overall.

Take a load at some of this weekend's performances...

Argentina:

2nd movie to cross more than $3m overall in its opening weekend, it wasn't too far off Toy Story 3.

1) Toy Story 3 - $3,464,681 (or $2,526,760 4-Day - 148)
2) Shrek 4 - $3.2m (141)
3) The Simpsons Movie - $2,342,609 (182)
4) Shrek 3 - $2,089,794 (or $1,605,373 4-Day - 182)
5) Pirates Of The Caribbean 3: At World’s End - $1,832,341 (258)
6) Harry Potter 6: HBP - $1,826,569 (or $1,824,783 4-Day - 95)
7) Titanic - $1.8m (85)
8) Spiderman - $1.7m
9) Alice In Wonderland - $1,668,739 (131)
10) Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa - $1,653,150 (156)


BRAZIL:

Absolutely creamed it here, 2nd largest overall opening of all-time

1) Harry Potter 6: HBP - $8,315,625 (15.8m Raeis/ 1.8m adms. 5-Day or $4,840,468 3-Day - 688)
2) Shrek 4 - $7.4m (456)
3) Spiderman 3 - $7,285,159 (14m Raeais - 875)
4) The Twilight Saga: New Moon - $6,911,031 (744)
5) Harry Potter 5: OOTP - $6,439,817 (5-Day or $3,919,060 3-Day - 725)
6) Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs - $6,187,723 (or $4,557,572 3-Day - 710)
7) Alice In Wonderland - $6,043,391 (494)
8) Shrek 3 - $5,982,719 (or $5,116,374 3-Day - 575)
9) Iron Man - $5,705,735 (or $3,416,837 3-Day - 569)
10) Indiana Jones: The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - $5,516,379 (or $3,631,854 3-Day - 545)

Hong Kong

39th biggest opening weekend for Shrek 4.

1 Kung Fu Hustle $4,468,086 55.2% $8,100,201
2 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince $2,976,407 50.7% $5,873,659
3 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen $2,819,776 45.5% $6,202,442
4 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $2,649,588 39.8% $6,650,517
5 Tau man ji D (Initial D) $2,632,759 54.3% $4,848,847
6 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End $2,599,580 48.6% $5,353,051
7 The Da Vinci Code $2,552,902 55.7% $4,580,707
8 Mou gaan dou (Infernal Affairs) $2,537,255 36.1% $7,035,649
9 The Day After Tomorrow $2,476,886 45.5% $5,447,484
10 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest $2,464,071 53.9% $4,574,736
11 Spider-Man 3 $2,401,446 33.3% $7,202,197
12 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets $2,341,126 47.7% $4,907,373
13 Night at the Museum $2,294,157 46.9% $4,895,815
14 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor $2,192,465 43.8% $5,002,179
15 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban $2,148,842 49.5% $4,339,688
16 Infernal Affairs 3: End Inferno (Mou gaan dou III: Jung gik mou gaan) $2,135,257 55.2% $3,865,758
17 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe $2,126,216 54.3% $3,915,444
18 Spider-Man 2 $2,126,185 51.0% $4,171,311
19 Cheung Gong 7 hou (CJ7) $2,115,955 30.7% $6,881,184
20 2012 $2,115,826 33.5% $6,323,434
21 The Dark Knight $2,107,626 27.9% $7,549,781
22 Avatar $2,039,648 8.9% $22,923,033
23 Fearless (Huo Jian Jia) $2,028,535 52.5% $3,866,820
24 Mission: Impossible III $2,026,976 51.1% $3,962,885
25 Superman Returns $1,956,651 60.0% $3,260,358
26 Alice in Wonderland (2010) $1,902,019 33.5% $5,678,519
27 War of the Worlds $1,897,300 61.8% $3,068,545
28 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs $1,889,597 45.1% $4,191,440
29 Transformers $1,797,292 34.7% $5,182,819
30 Hero (Ying xiong) $1,785,181 52.2% $3,417,217
31 Mr. Bean's Holiday $1,765,978 61.5% $2,870,460
32 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King $1,762,788 35.4% $4,983,077
33 Yip Man 2: Chung si chuen kei $1,736,771 31.2% $5,558,704
34 Hauru no ugoku shiro (Howl's Moving Castle) $1,664,472 58.2% $2,858,361
35 Finding Nemo $1,623,481 39.8% $4,084,033
36 Mr. & Mrs. Smith $1,607,518 53.1% $3,027,991
37 X-Men: The Last Stand $1,600,827 58.8% $2,722,049
38 The Incredibles $1,561,347 36.1% $4,327,596
39 Shrek Forever After $1,555,601 100.0% $1,555,601
40 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull $1,546,573 44.0% $3,518,898

Is this in HK dollars or something? I have the Top 5 as

1) Spiderman 3 - $3,733,266 (6-Day - 88)
2) Kung Fu Hustle - $3,195,590 ($675,867 - 94)
3) Harry Potter 6: HBP - $2,976,407 (97)
4) Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen - $2,819,776 (90)
5) Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World - $2.7m

It now has Italy, Japan and Iceland ahead...

and Mexico(July 16),and China(August 16)

US$. I'm going by BOM's numbers. Are those Variety's?

BOM's OW list for international markets is internally inconsistent...the earlier movies are all weekly numbers. Kung Fu Hustle made $4,468,086 on its opening week.

OW Poland - 384 293 adm. Wow what a disappointment!