H2 had 907 prints compared to 968 for H1...

That's even better increase then. I hope this one easily crosses $1b mark would be the first series to get 3 movies above $1b mark.

Yep, lovely stuff so far.

Germany:
Looks like H2's 4 day opening of 1.2m admissions is on the same level as H1's 5 day opening of 1.24m admissions (judging by Thursday sales)...

I am still surprised that this one is opening better than the last one, given the marketing of this movie and the reception of last installment I thought it would just open to the same numbers or decrease in opening in most markets.

With good reception this one can have better legs and easily cross $1b WW mark, though the real surprise would be if it could outdo IM3 (highly unlikely though).

The reception of the last one was quite good. Its only net critics who decided they would hate it before watching it that didn't like it.

Good to see its out opening the first film so far.

from Boxoffice.com


France leads the initial roll-out with a $2.8 million haul and 263K admissions, an 8% improvement over the last film in the series.

The other top performers for the film's opening day are:

Sweden: $1.8M, 431 Screens

Norway: $1.1M, 277 Screens

Denmark: $872k, 181 Screens

Netherlands: $619k, 172 Screens. Biggest opening day of 2013

Finland: $480k, 191 Screens

Belgium: $428k. Biggest opening day of 2013.

Philippines: $252k, 312 Screens.

Switzerland (Fr): $125k, 56 Screens. Biggest opening day of 2013.




However a few countries have decreased from AUJ


2 Day total in South Korea

2-day total

TH2 303K

TH1 353K

However there is a theater situation there that could be hurting it.


10% opening day decrease in Hong Kong

15% opening day decrease in Italy

I think the first film already fell victim to the "Just another movie about hobbits" syndrome. I mean, I loved the LOTR trilogy and saw all the chapters in theaters. I thought the marketing for Hobbit was generally rather underwhelming, and I waited for Bluray before I saw it.

But I ended up really liking it, and I will see the Hobbit 2 in theatre.

I think that ultimately Hobbit 1 had some really solid WOM. But the underwhelming marketing for the first film made many people stay away. There was room for some expansion, via people who watched the first film at home, and ended up really enjoying it.

The second Hobbit film has hit $53.4 million internationally, including $29.3 million on Friday from 15,950 screens in 49 markets. The Friday number was 5% ahead of the first Friday for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and its Wednesday-Thursday grosses were up by 11% over “Journey.”

“Smaug” opened Friday in the U.K. with $4.7 million at 1,495 screens, 39% ahead of the “Journey” opening day, which was a Thursday.

Germany generated $4 million at 1,460 for a two-day total of $7.4 million for “Smaug” — 35% ahead of “Journey.”

Spain’s opening day for “Smaug” saw $2.3 million at 859 screens, making it the top Friday opening in 2013, while France pulled in $2.1 million at 909 locations for a three-day total of $6.4 million — 10% ahead of “Journey.”

In Brazil, “Smaug” opened with $1.5 million at 1,009 screens, 4% ahead of “Journey.”

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/hobbi ... 200956487/

It is looking great OS, and should have no problem getting over 700 million.

Glad to see some good BO news for it.

Good to see only increases in all markets, though this is a sequel afterall so there could be some frontloading. It should clear $600m for sure, let's see if it does $700m or more with those good numbers.

I feel that $1b is in play. Even if the USA does disappoint, I see China and Europe making up for that.

$1 billion will still be a struggle.

Definitely. Isn't it always?

Exchange rate is also very favorable... US-$ is about 4-5 % weaker vs. the € compared to last year...

Not for Iron Man 3

Sadly.

Warner Bros. reports that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is up to $131.2 million overseas, pushing its global total to $205M.

Key stats from WB:

Germany - Took 64% of the top 5 market share, ranking as the biggest opening of 2013 with €13.2m (US$18.1m) from 1,460 screens. HDOS already qualifies for a Bogey Award for achieving more than 1,000 admissions per site. Opening results surpassed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey by 14% (€11.5m), excluding previews.

The UK: With a 61% share of the top 5 films in the market and nearly quadrupling 2nd placed FROZEN, the opening results are excellent at £9.5m (US$15.6m) from 1,495 screens. This is on par with the. Fri-Sun opening results for HAUJ (£9.5m).

Scandinavia: Strong numbers at a cumulative $15.6m, roughly on par with the opening of HAUJ at $15.8m. Sweden pulled in the lion's share at an excellent SK39.7m (US$6.1m) from 431 screens.

France: Outstanding €10.6m (US$14.6m) with 1.35m admissions from 909 screens, doubling results of 2nd placed FROZEN. Opening results outpaced HAUJ by 13% (€9.4m).

Korea: Fantastic opening at KRW 7.6m (US$7.2m) from 806 screens, pulling in 50% more than 2nd place local opener WAY BACK HOME.

Rest of Asia: Outstanding results with Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Indonesia and Thailand taking $13.2m and collectively outpacing HAUJ by +18% ($11.2m)!

Spain marked the biggest weekend in 2013, grossing €5.15m (US$7.1m) from 859 screens and garnering 60% of the top 5 market share. 3D results are 85% of HDOS (€6.1m), which is excellent considering the current economic climate.

Italy: Opening tally is €3.8m (US$5.2m) from 680 screens, doubling 2nd place local opener UN FANTASTICO VIA VAI.

Brazil: With a 70% share of the top 5 films in the market, opening results are excellent at R$11.5m (US$5.0m) from 1,009 screens, surpassing HAUJ by +16% (R$9.9m).

Holland: Biggest opening weekend in 2013 at €2.2m (US$3.0m) from 220 screens, including sneaks, on par with HAUJ (€2.2m).

Mexico: Dominating the market with a 72% share of the top 5 films, opening numbers are strong at Ps. 75.4m (US$5.9m) from 2,640 screens, outperforming HAUJ by +9% (Ps. 68.9m)

New Zealand: 4 day opening gross of NZ$2.0m (US$1.7m) from 201 screens, which is on par with HAUJ's record breaking showing last year (Thu-Sun NZ$2.0m).

Upcoming key releases: Russia (18 Dec), Australia (26 Dec), Japan (28 Feb), China (TBA)

The first movie did $138m opening but it was released in Japan as well. Its will essentially doing what the first movie did in OS markets maybe a little higher but we will see how the legs are for this movie during holidays.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3588&p=.htm

China is February, not TBA.

Looks like the rest of the world is on the money with this franchise compared to the US.

It will be huge here in Oz when it opens Dec 26th - the biggest movie going day of the year.

While the current increases are good they are overall on par with the first movie. With the decrease in domestic market it would need atleast $40m-$50m increase from OS markets by following the legs of the first movie in ALL markets. It should get to $1b unless it turns out to be very frontloaded from the first movie.

$1.5 billion worldwide, or just overseas? Because even with the relatively less mature foreign market and lack of 3D/IMAX, I am of the belief that Return of the King sold almost as many tickets worldwide as The Avengers, and probably sold more tickets overseas than Deathly Hallows Part 2.

I always also think what would have happened if they release Hobbit trilogy first and then the LOTR trilogy. I think the expectations would have been so less that ALL movies would have done MUCH MUCH more.