'This Is It' tops overseas boxoffice
Michael Jackson doc stays at No. 1 with another $29 million

Nov 8, 2009, 04:08 PM ET
Despite a 58% drop in weekend boxoffice on the foreign circuit, Sony's release of "This Is It" with Michael Jackson maintained its hold on the No. 1 spot overseas, generating $29 million from 8,800 screens in 110 markets for an offshore total of $128.6 million -- more than double its domestic take.

Finishing No. 2 on the weekend was director Robert Zemeckis' 3D performance-capture version of Disney's "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge, which drew $12 million in its opener at 2,750 screens in 18 territories for a per-screen average of $4,364.

Disney said that "3D was a significant factor, accounting for 62% of our total result from only 37% of the screens." The latest version of Charles Dickens' frequently filmed 1843 novella opened at No. 1 domestically and has collected a worldwide tally of $43 million so far.

Driving "Christmas Carol" were strong opening numbers in the U.K. and in Mexico. Disney says that "on a consolidated basis in the same bucket of territories, the $12 million take was the best ever achieved by a Robert Zemeckis film." The take was 50% bigger than that of "The Polar Express," Zemeckis' 2004 Christmas season title in 3D.

This week, "Christmas Carol" opens in Spain, Japan and Colombia.

"This Is It," which finished at No. 2 in the U.S. and Canada on the weekend, opened in just one new territory (Vietnam), indicating that Jackson's posthumously released concert rehearsal film showed decent staying power in holdover markets. Worldwide, "This Is It" has accumulated $186.9 million.

No. 1 finishes were recorded in Japan ($4.1 million from 322 locales, down just 28% from the opening weekend), France ($2.7 million from 463 screens), Germany ($2.55 million from 926 sites), the U.K. ($2.2 million from 806 locales) and Australia ($1.7 million from 292 situations). Sony says "This Is It" finished in first place in China and Holland as well but in sixth place in Italy, fifth in Spain and third in Brazil.

The doc's top five markets in terms of cumulative grosses are Japan ($23.6 million), the U.K. ($13.3 million), Germany ($11 million), France ($10.6 million) and Australia ($6.6 million).

Interestingly, the weekend's No. 2 film in France was "Le Concert," a EuropaCorp. release that opened to $2.3 million from 400 sites. It has nothing to do with the Michael Jackson title, however. It's a French-Russian co-production about a sacked Bolshoi Orchestra conductor who conspires with other discharged friends to mount a concert in Paris. The Weinstein Co. has U.S. release rights.

Third on the weekend was Pixar/Disney's "Up," which boosted its international total to $367 million -- $48 million shy of the total recorded by Pixar/Disney's "Ratatouille" - thanks to an $8.4 million weekend at 4,278 screens in 26 markets. A Japan opening is set for Dec. 5.

No. 4 was Universal's "Couples Retreat," the Vince Vaughn comedy, which lured $5.7 million from 1,596 situations in 18 territories for an overseas cume of $28.8 million. A second-place Germany introduction produced $2.8 million from 338 sites, per the distributor.



Fifth was Universal's release of Michael Mann's period drama "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, which resurfaced in Italy. A No. 1 opening there furnished the weekend's total action, $3.5 million from 319 locales, which raised the international cume to $104.3 million. Japan opens Dec. 12.

Premiering at No. 1 in Spain was "Celda 211" (Cell 211), a Spanish-language thriller starring Carols Bardem that was acquired and released by Paramount. Director Daniel Monzon's film version of an F.P. Gandull novel about a prison guard who gets sucked into a prison riot opened to $1.7 million from 220 sites.

Opening ninth in France was the latest title from 87-year-old French director Alain Resnais ("Hiroshima Mon Amour," "Last Year in Marienbad"). "Les herbes folles" (Wild Grass), a drama involving a male-female couple and a lost wallet, bowed via Studio Canal to $1.5 million from 300 location.

Other weekend action and cumes: Disney's "G-Force," $2.9 million from 2,227 screens in 28 markets, cume $153.5 million; Disney's "Book of Masters," $2.7 million from 691 sites in Russia (where it ranked No. 1), cume $9.2 million; Sony's "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," $2.7 million from 2,180 screens in 35 territories, cume $57.8 million; and Weinstein/Universal's "Inglourious Basterds," $2.6 million from 1,943 sites in 43 markets, cume $183.7 million over 12 rounds.

Also, Disney's "Surrogates," $2.4 million from 1,812 screens in 38 territories, cume $64.5 million; Sony's "Julie & Julia," $2.4 million from 960 sites in 39 markets, cume $27.8 million; New Line/Warner's "The Final Destination," $2.3 million from 1,540 situations in 39 territories, cume $116.1 million; Fox's "Jennifer's Body," $2.29 million from 885 screens in 22 markets, cume $13.8 million; and Warner's "Micmacs a tire-larigot," $2 million from 618 sites in France, market cume, $7.5 million.

Other international cumes: Sony's "The Ugly Truth," $110.7 million; Fox's "Aliens in the Attic," $34.3 million; Universal's "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," $9.7 million; Fox's "(500) Days of Summer," $21.2 million; Wild Bunch Distribution's "Le petit Nicolas," $40.8 million (in France only); Fox's "Fantastic Mr. Fox," $11.1 million (over three U.K. frames); UGC's "Lucky Luke," $14.8 million over three France frames; and Fox's "Agora," $27.3 million over five frames in Spain only.

It's very good for Michael Jackson's This Is It, though. I se it making around $270 million worldwide with a small shot at $300 milion actually. Great success story..

Are you f*ing kidding? They were expecting like 200 m in its first 5 f*ing days.

I expected $250 million. So? It did not live up to expecttations, yet it is financially a big success story.

A Christmas Carol is looking at some longevity, so it's a fine opening. I think around $250-280 million worldwide is happening for it.

Nobody gives a shit about what you've expected when it's 2 weeks after the release date, don't you think so? So it's kinda useless argument. Industry expectations were way higher the day before its opening day, I know that, you know that, everyone knows that. So don't try to put lipstick on a pig - it's still a pig. And financially it's definitely not a success story, at least not in theaters. 60 m paid for the rights + budget to make a film + at least 50 m for marketing, not to mention how many players are gonna share the pie.

Its a huge hit, and industry expectations were never that high, only tracking for the final three weeks was.

Close to 300 WW in theaters, at least another 200 WW in DVD sales, and probably at least a 50 million deal for TV rights. Considering Sony exclusively owns it, and not to mention the album to go with it, which has already sold over 1 million units WW, that will probably end up being another 50-100 million WW. It's budget and marketing was said to be less than what they paid for the rights it was mostly post production work. Most of the filming had already taken place.

600 low end WW on a 140 million investment at most = huge success, and thats year one alone