BATMAN ^!^ BEGINS





Dark Knight lights up int'l boxoffice

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/in ... 1000963363

Warner Bros. Pictures hailed the limited opening-day overseas results of "Batman Begins" as running from "excellent" to "outstanding" as the Christopher Nolan-directed restart of the franchise kicked off Wednesday as part of a massive day-and-date release that will see about 90% of the international market covered by the end of this coming weekend. According to Warner Bros., exceptional boxoffice numbers, especially from Mexico and Asia, are flowing in, indicating No. 1 rankings everywhere with the exception of France, where it was beaten by the opening of Cedric Klapisch's romantic comedy "Les Poupees Russe," starring Audrey Tautou. "Batman Begins' " opening-day take in France from 111,820 tickets sold came to $839,706, compared to "Poupees Russes'" 150,996, an estimated $1.1 million at the boxoffice. Warners notes that "Poupees" had the advantage of an additional screening per day because of "Batman's" length. Paris admissions for "Batman," the studio pointed out, exceeded "The Day After Tomorrow" by 4%, "Last Samurai" by 39%, and "Constantine" by 48%.

---

One must remember that Europe has never been a strong supporter of the Batman franchise.....especially mediocre in France....

PARIS: Opening Day
Spiderman 2 - 112.197 adms.
Spiderman 1 - 110,204 adms.
X-Men 2 - 64,788 adms.
X-Men 1 - 48,066 adms.
The Hulk - 47,012 adms.
Batman & Robin - 33,701 adms.
Batman Begins - 31,543 adms.
Batman Forever - 29,588 adms.
Daredevil - 26,327 adms.
Blade 2 - 22,922 adms.

PARIS: Opening Week
Spiderman 1 - 441,360 adms.
X-Men 2 - 354,360 adms.
X-Men 1 - 218,283 adms.
The Hulk - 206,515 adms.
Blade 2 - 156,732 adms.
Daredevil - 146,143 adms.
Batman & Robin - 131,034 adms.
Batman Forever - 130,869 adms.

PARIS: Total Gross
Spiderman 1 - 1,276,760 adms.
X-Men 2 - 693,628 adms.
X-Men 1 - 468,318 adms.
The Hulk - 360,348 adms.
Daredevil - 314,448 adms.
Batman Forever - 310,991 adms.
Batman & Robin - 268,859 adms.
Blade 2 - 260,764 adms.

---

FRANCE: Opening Day
Spiderman 2 - 502.494 adms.
Spiderman 1 - 480,288 adms.
X-Men 2 - 310,592 adms.
X-Men 1 - 195,339 adms.
The Hulk - 183,558 adms.
Batman Begins - 111,820 adms.
Daredevil - 93,385 adms.
Blade 2 - 87,208 adms.

FRANCE: Opening Week
Spiderman 1 - 1,903,136 adms.
X-Men 2 - 1,348,391 adms.
X-Men 1 - 857,619 adms.
The Hulk - 815,461 adms.
Blade 2 - 683,115 adms.
Batman & Robin - 567,917 adms.
Batman Forever - 559,225 adms.
Daredevil - 534,365 adms.

FRANCE: Total Gross
Spiderman 1 - 6,459,120 adms.
X-Men 2 - 2,817,280 adms.
X-Men 1 - 1,856,961 adms.
Batman Forever - 1,681,063 adms.
The Hulk - 1,663,241 adms.
Batman & Robin - 1,370,818 adms.
Daredevil - 1,338,090 adms.
Blade 2 - 1,238,196 adms.

By no means a huge opening day (Spiderman 2 did more in Paris alone), but this is a good result for the franchise and at this rate, it's definately headed for a US$3-4m Opening Weekend.

'Batman' tries to reverse B.O. trends

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111792 ... =1972&cs=1

Internationally, Warners reported "Batman" grossed $1.9 million on Wednesday from four territories -- France, Mexico, the Philippines and Malaysia. Pic is debuting in 71 territories over the frame.

Studio was especially enthused by the Mexican results, but the other territories were solid if not spectacular.

In France, the Bat claimed $839,706 with 111,820 admissions nationwide. Paris admissions totaled 31,543, a figure that exceeded "Day After Tomorrow" by 4%, "Van Helsing" by 1% and "Pearl Harbor" by 6%.

In the Philippines, the opening day of $153,411 ranked as Warner's fifth biggest ever after the three "Harry Potter" films and "The Matrix Reloaded."

Malaysia's opening of $90,095 represented 55% of the market and was 3% above "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and 11% ahead of "Van Helsing."

Warner also opened 16 other smaller markers such as Brunei, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Luxembourg. "Batman Begins" opened Thursday in Australia and Germany; today's launches include the U.K., Italy, Spain, Brazil and Russia. Japan opens on Saturday.

---------------

Dark Knight lights up int'l boxoffice

http://www.thehollywoodreporter.com/thr ... 1000963366

Mexico's opening of $829,698, said Warners, was a "huge" result, "especially considering that Mexico traditionally opens on a Friday." It beat the opening day of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" by 63% and "The Day After Tomorrow" by 154%, said Warners.

The opening in the Philippines at $153,411 was saluted as the company's fifth biggest all-time opening in the market.

Malaysia also made the "outstanding" list with $90,095. The Wednesday bow exceeded such Thursday openings as "I, Robot" by 128% and "Men in Black 2" by 113%.

Nolan, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Katie Holmes were in Paris on Wednesday to promote the film. They gave a press conference in the afternoon, and were at the premiere on the Champs Elysees, where the red carpet was rolled out for them.

---------------

MEXICO - Opening Day

Star Wars 3: ROTS - 187,000 adms.
The Matrix: Reloaded - $1.05m (530p/898sc)
The Matrix: Revolutions - $898,000 (550p/828sc)
Lord Of The Rings: ROTK - $884,376 (550)
Batman Begins - $829,698
Kingdom Of Heaven - $530,000

Batman Begins again in Mexico with a huge Opening Day (most definately inside the Top 10 greatest opening days of All-Time). Mr. And Mrs. Smith opened to $3.6m last weekend, and BB will surely smash that to bits this weekend....

This power on opening day normally translates to a $4m+ weekend, but with BB having 5-Days to play with (Wed-Sun) instead of the normal 3-Days, it could definately blow up anywhere between $5-7m.

The current 5-Day record holder and the All-Time record holder is Shrek 2 at $9,887,683 (5-Day and $6.96m 3-Day), followed by ROTK with $4,428,021 (5-Day).

Mexico has a record of embracing comics with SM1 at $8.67m, SM2 at $6.6m, X2 at $5.55m (4-Day), Hulk at $4.6m, X-Men 1 at $2.7m. More importantly, Batman Begins' opening day alone accounted for 64% of Batman & Robin's $1.4m opening weekend.....so a definate improvement here in Mexico.

Things are looking very good in the South American and Asian markets, it must do well in these regions because it won't get much support in Europe especially.....

Batman Begins will fail miserably in Germany, the franchise's weakest territory. Batman Returns didn't even reach 1,000,000 admissions over here whch is really really bad for such a movie. The strongest effort was the original Batman and that barely crossed 1,800,000 admissions. Batman Forever and Batman & Robin both hit around 1,300,000 admissions. I expect around the same for Batman Begins. A shame, the movie is excellent.

And the weather will hurt a good opening...

HONG KONG - Opening Day

First day takings in HK are quite soft for this sort of pic, without the previews it would've fallen in Hulk territory.

The Batman franchise were among the biggest openers of their time in HK. Batman & Robin did gross $952,000 opening weekend back in 1997....one of the biggest openings that year.

A good comparison for BB is Alien vs. Predator which had a similar opening day.....that movie went on to gross $833,312 for the weekend.....BB might do slightly better with $900k.

Infernal Affairs 2 - $676,923 (incl. $141,062 p/v - HK$3.9m - 68)
Kung Fu Hustle - $641,174 (or $528,101 without p/v - 94)
Harry Potter 3: POA - $639,678 (incl. $323,093 2-Day p/v or $310,225 without p/v - 73)
Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World - $615,000 (41)
Spiderman 2 - $374,278 (76)
Running On Karma - $360,866 (56)
Star Wars 1: PM - $358,000 (55)
The Day After Tomorrow - $332,286 (51)
Infernal Affairs - $325,000+ est. (HK$2m)
The Matrix: Reloaded - $320,513 (29)
The Twins Effect 2 - $257,719 (48)
Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines - $224,368 (60)
Star Wars 3: ROTS - $216,878 (77)
Lord Of The Rings: ROTK - $216,330 (54)
Mr. And Mrs. Smith - $200,481 (54)
Hauru No Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle) - $189,744 (37)
Finding Nemo - $188,435 (56)
Sound Of Colors - $186,685 (41)
Alien vs. Predator - $179,480 (39)
Batman Begins - $176,226 (or $128,632 without p/v - 65)
House Of Flying Daggers - $166,673 (39)
Honesty - $166,667 (or $139,744 without p/v - 39)
The Matrix: Revolutions - $164,721 (64)
Turn Left Turn Right - $153,821 (36)
I, Robot - $151,272 (44)
The Twins Effect - $149,983 (51)
3 Of A Kind - $143,577 (40)
Jiang Hu - $142,297 (47)
Elixir Of Love - $145,265 (44)
X-Men 2: X-Men United - $144,872 (49)
Yesterday Once More - $136,023 (58)
Fantasia - $135,229 (43)
Troy - $134,627 (43)
Golden Chicken 2 - $133,883 (25)
Dragon Loaded - $133,332 (35)
Garfield: The Movie - $128,203 (or $82,050 without p/v - 33)
The Hulk - $128,190 (58)


--------------

MALAYSIA - Opening Day

Batman Begins - $90,095
Van Helsing - $82,000 (38)
Kingdom Of Heaven - $52,000

Batman & Robin was huge in Malaysia ($885,000) a figure which ROTS today couldn't top.....

BB's opening day is by no means huge, only 3% ahead of Mr. And Mrs Smith (which ended with $450k for the weekend)....but of course this is a Wednesday opening....the big money is in the weekend where movies make about 80%+ of their opening total.


--------------

PHILIPPINES - Opening Day

Batman Begins - $153,411

Very impressive, WB's 5th largest opening day and is a prime candidate for the $1m opening weekend group. Though i'm quite surprised that its beaten only by the 3 Potters and Reloaded......because i've got Batman & Robin at $1.4m in the Phillipines, and that opening tops Potter/Reloaded in US$......weird,

Batman set to land on 8,000 screens and over 70 territories

Jeremy Kay in Los Angeles 17 June 2005
http://www.screendaily.com/story.asp?storyid=22487

Batman Begins takes off through Warner Bros Pictures International this weekend on a massive day-and-date launch that sees the picture open on approximately 8,000 screens in more than 70 markets.

The comic book adaptation opened in France and Mexico on Jun 15 and in Australia and Germany a day later. The UK, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and Russia follow on Jun 17.

Japan opens on Jun 18 and has typically been a tricky proving ground for the Batman franchise and Western comic book adaptations in general.

Studio top brass will be looking for improved results following the recent world premiere there. South Korea is set to open on Jun 24.

Any news on the UK opening? (opened on thurday)

Nope, no news since Wednesday.....though SkyIsFalling is predicting a 5m+ pound opening which would be a record for the franchise.


UNITED KINGDOM (Pounds) - Opening Weekend

1 The Prisoner of azkaban 23,882,688 535 04
2 The Chamber of secrets 18,871,829 524 02
3 The Philosopher's stone 16,335,627 507 01
4 Shrek 2 16,220,752 512 04
5 The Return of the king 15,021,761 494 03
6 Revenge of the sith 14,361,469 490 05
7 The Two towers 13,063,560 501 02
8 The Matrix:Reloaded 12,165,276 481 03
9 Attack of the clones 11,386,209 467 02
10 The Fellowship of the ring 11,058,045 470 01
11 Bridget jones:Edge of reason 10,435,193 504 04
12 The Incredibles 9,874,782 494 04
13 The Phantom menace 9,512,295 460 99
14 Spider-man 9,426,969 509 02
15 Monsters,inc 9,200,257 503 02
16 Die another day 9,122,344 430 02
17 Spider-man 2 8,766,902 504 04
18 The Matrix:Revolutions 8,712,350 467 03
19 Toy story 2 7,971,539 496 00
20 Meet the fockers 7,917,661 456 05
21 Finding nemo 7,590,845 453 03
22 Sharktale 7,545,074 504 04
23 The Day after tomorrow 7,321,633 429 04
24 Bruce almighty 7,242,166 446 03
25 Men in black 7,066,748 417 97
26 X2 7,037,861 449 03
27 Independence day 7,005,905 434 96
28 Love actually 6,657,479 477 03
29 Hannibal 6,402,540 421 01
30 The world is not enough 6,273,584 443 99
31 Men in black 2 6,191,428 512 02
32 Troy 6,151,581 504 04
33 T3:Rise of the machines 6,080,369 478 03
34 Austin powers:Spy who shagged me 6,005,087 442 99
35 The Mummy returns 5,929,146 454 01
36 The Blair witch project 5,875,318 397 99
37 Bridget jone's diary 5,720,292 417 01
38 The Lost world 5,666,917 477 97
39 Austin powers:Goldmember 5,585,978 446 02
40 American pie 2 5,508,709 420 01
41 Planet of the apes 5,445,983 446 01
42 Van helsing 5,429,632 458 04
43 The Sixth sense 5,229,978 430 99
44 Scooby doo 5,129,109 472 02
45 Ocean's 11 5,095,062 433 02
46 Batman and robin 4,940,566 457 97
47 Jurassic park 4,875,137 434 93
48 Starky and hutch 4,809,897 451 04
49 Titanic 4,805,270 416 98
50 Jurassic park III 4,762,155 458 01
51 X-Men 4,749,241 434 00
52 I,Robot 4,745,541 447 04
53 Batman forever 4,714,153 386 95
54 Shrek 4,686,210 470 01
55 Mission impossible 2 4,621,948 461 00

"The film also debuted in 73 international territories with an initial estimate of $41 million from roughly 8,000 screens. Britain posted the strongest response with a $7.8 million gross but, unlike other U.S. franchises, Batman historically has been soft overseas and combined with wilting weather in Europe debuted on the continent with mixed results. Germany, generally the top Euro territory, lagged behind its neighbor nations with $1.8 million while France opened to $3 million, Spain with $2.5 million and Italy grossing $2.2 million.
Latin America was strong overall with Mexico buoyant at $4.2 million. Australia recorded $3.15 million and Japan was also good with $2.9 million. South Korea opens the picture next weekend."

http://www.moviecitynews.com/columnists/klady/2005/050619.html#finals

Doesn't sound too good for Batman Begins. Batman & Robin got 55% of its gross overseas, but I guess the international star power of Schwarzeneger and Clooney helped that one.

Watched a few hours ago. Less than half full at a 7.30 showing. It will hold up well next weekend for sure, next week shouldn't be as hot as this.

Thanks Ragnarok,

Pretty much what's expected from Europe......though slightly dissapointing for Australia, US$3.15m is around AUD$4m a good $2.4m behind Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

I'm hoping for legs with this one, and it should do well next week without direct competition until War of the Worlds.

Also, remember that Batman Begins opened against a strong Mr. And Mrs. Smith and against Madagascar in Australia and Netherlands.

Caped Crusader flexes int'l muscle

By DAVE MCNARY
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111792 ... id=13&cs=1

"Batman Begins" flew to first with a respectable $41.7 million overseas opening at 8,000 plus playdates in 73 countries in its first five days.

Strong as it was, the debut fell significantly short of other recent tentpoles.

The fifth version of the Batman saga took in less than a third of the $144.7 million opening of "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" at over 10,500 screens and came in well behind the $56 million launch for "Kingdom of Heaven" at 6,500 engagements. And it lost in head-to-head competition with UIP's "Madagascar" in a quartet of major markets -- Australia, Holland, Mexico and Spain.

Warner's execs said Sunday that "Batman Begins" should have solid legs in the wake of the day-and-date launch, which followed a massive worldwide promo campaign. And rival distribs said the Batpic should dominate foreign biz until the June 29 day-and-date opening of "War of the Worlds."

"We're really pleased with this result," said Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, Warner's president of international distribution. "Based on the international critical and audience response for 'Batman Begins,' we look forward to a steadily building run for the movie that will result in a tremendous summer for Warner Bros. Pictures."

The previous four Batfilms grossed a combined $540 million offshore, led by $160 million from 1989's "Batman."

Hot weather hampered the Bat launch as overall moviegoing in key European markets was off by as much as 30% from the usual numbers for a mid-June weekend. But "Batman Begins" still managed an impressive $7.8 million at 514 playdates in the U.K. for that market's third biggest 2005 launch after "Sith" and "Meet the Fockers."

The heat clearly hindered "Batman Begins" in other major Euro markets as it took in $3 million at 681 engagments in France, $2.53 million at 455 in Spain, $2.2 million at 580 in Italy and $1.8 million at 674 in Germany.

"Batman Begins" delivered decent numbers in Mexico with $4.2 million at 643 sites, representing Warner's fourth biggest opening in that territory after the second and third "Harry Potter" films and "The Matrix: Reloaded." Still, that was not enough to beat UIP's opening of "Madagascar," which launched with $5 million at 381 for a 50% share of the market.

"Madagascar" beat The Bat badly in Australia with $5.74 million at 255 for a 30% share, nearly double "Batman Begins" with $3.14 million at 360. The toon led in Spain with $3.3 million at 556, $800,000 ahead of "Batman Begins;" Holland saw $850,000 at 134 for "Madagascar," 22% ahead of "The Incredibles."

Overall business continued to receive a significant boost from "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with $22.1 million at 3,900 playdates, led by a $5.2 million opening at 348 in South Korea for the biggest Fox launch in that market and the seventh-biggest of all time. "Smith" also saw beefy launches in South Africa with $637,000 at 71; in Denmark with $565,000 at 66; in Portugal with $447,00 at 65; and in Israel with $364,000 at 34 for the biggest opening of 2005 in that market.

But holdover biz for "Smith" saw fairly significant declines, most likely reflecting the considerable competition from "Batman."

Soph sesh takings for "Smith" were led by the U.K., with a 49% decline to $3.3 million at 445 sites for a $14.2 million cume; Australia saw a 53% decline to $2.3 million at 357 for a $9.2 million total; Mexico slid 56% to $1.5 million at 674 for a $7.1 million cume.

Offshore cume for the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie vehicle has hit $68 million.

"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" began running out of gas in its fifth frame with a 52% decline to $8.8 million at 7,200 playdates for a foreign cume of $357.9 million. Combined worldwide "Sith" grosses have hit $705 million, making it the 19th film to cross the $700 million mark and the third highest worldwide grosser of the "Star Wars" films, trailing only "The Phantom Menace" at $922 million and the original "Star Wars" at $798 million.

Nearly half of the "Sith" foreign grosses came from three European markets -- $1.6 million at 851 playdates in France to boost its cume to $49.4 million; $1.3 million in the U.K. at 432 for a $68.5 million territorial total; and $1.2 million in Germany at 1,029 for a $44.3 million cume.

Overall international biz for the frame was solid if not spectacular with "Batman Begins," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "Madagascar" and "Sith" combining for about $90 million. Still, the weekend fell short of the same 2004 frame when the top four pics -- "Shrek 2," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Troy" -- combined for $109 million.

its been upwards of 85 degrees all over the UK for the whole weekend. People dont want to go to the movies under conditions that [for us anyway] are unbelievably swealtering.

All films should hold up well next frame.

I've never understood why the hot weather makes people in Europe run away from the movie theaters. Here in Puerto Rico, during the hot Summer, we run for the shopping malls and the movie theaters.

Its rare for many european places to get good weather. So people flock to the beaches and spend time in the garden - they like being outdoors.

But on days like recently - its humid and dull and warm. Theres just this massive european lethargy over the weekend to go with it. People cant be bothered doing anything in heat like this where breathing is a task.

Yeah that's i would think, also in Australia the summer period Dec-Feb is the most profitably time of the year.....

Perhaps those countries south of the Equator or around the Tropics adapt better to the weather and than those say in the UK.... :???:

Try going to a beach during a hot day in the UK. theres traffic for miles and the beaches are swarming.

Its insane. But we take whatever good weather we are given ;-)

You're in Australia. What to you is normal weather to us here in Canada, as well as much of Europe, would be heaven. Trust me, if the weather is good, we'll take advantage of it as much as we can. Soon enough, we'll have the brutal winter hitting us over the head. Then, there won't be any visits of any parks or beaches. Cinemas look like a much more attractive option then

Madagascar clobbered Batman Begins in every single territory they opened simultaneously.



Link

Unfortunately for Batman Begins, Madagascar is also lining up this period to take full advantage of the upcoming holidays in most markets.......though the good news, is that it should have little competition next week and if all things go well, it should place 3rd behind WOTW, Madagascar for the July holidays.....

I was quite surprised that Madagascar managed to beat Batman Begins in Australia by a large margin, although the US$5.7m included previews from last weekend (about US$1.5m), it's still enough to trample Batman Begins's US$3.1m........ , not happy whatesoever....

I was thinking it would be close in Australia (after your Melbourne crowd report). But Madagascar made 50% more than Batman Begins even without the previews. Madagascar could end up with $225M+ overseas. Mexico, a market that supports animated and comic book hero movies well also picked Madagascar

That's what i originally though based on the crowd reports in Melbourne, they were pretty much neck and neck throughout the week, with Madagascar doing slightly better during the day.....but i thought BB's late night sessions would make up for it....and the battle was meant to be around AUD$6m not AUD$4m....argh :???: So wrong....

I didn't know Madagascar was opening against BB in Mexico and Spain (should've read the release dates LOL) and that probably explains why BB failed to gross more than $5m in Mexico after such a strong showing on Wednesday.....oh well, things will even itself out over the next few weeks when you have two biggies opening against each other......

I think WOTW and BB could hurt each other and Madagascar will have smooth sailing since there is not much competition for it.

Madagascar has already outperformed The Incredibles in some of the smaller Asian countries and just defeated Incredibles in Netherlands.......this movie is going to be a major threat in the holidays and might challenge WOTW and Fantastic Four....just like Shrek 2 was able to neutralize Spiderman 2 even after 2-3 weeks of play......

BB never had a chance in Europe, we knew that all along so i'm not extremely dissapointed by its lacklustre showings in Germany, France, Spain and Italy......

I don't see more than $150m for BB,