World box office July 28-30
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | Cume (int’l) | Territories |
| 1. | Barbie (Warner Bros) | $215.2m | $774.5m | $122.2m | $423.1m | 70 |
| 2. | Oppenheimer (Universal) | $118.6m | $400.4m | $72.4m | $226.3m | 79 |
| 3. | Creation Of The Gods (various) | $57.5m | $153.4m | $57.5m | $153.4m | 1 |
| 4. | Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount) | $42.4m | $448.5m | $31.7m | $309.3m | 72 |
| 5. | One And Only (various) | $35.9m | $53.3m | $35.9m | $53.3m | 1 |
| 6. | Haunted Mansion (Disney) | $33.3m | $33.3m | $9.1m | $9.1m | 36 |
| 7. | Chang An San Wan Li (various) | $22.5m | $209.1m | $22.5m | $209.1m | 1 |
| 8. | Elemental (Disney) | $19.5m | $395.3m | $16.1m | $250.3m | 52 |
| 9. | Talk To Me (various) | $14m | $14m | $4m | $4m | 16 |
| 10. | Sound Of Freedom (various) | $12.4m | $149m | - | - | 1 |
Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.
Barbie’ adds $215m in second session
The scorching box office hot steak continues for Warner Bros’ Barbie, with the film delivering the biggest second-weekend takings (an estimated $215.2m) since Avatar: The Way of Water ($224.6m), and the biggest so far this year. Worldwide total for Barbie is $774.5m after just 10 days.
The second weekend of play saw Barbie deliver an estimated $93.0m in North America (down 43%) and $122.2m in international markets (down 32%). Respective totals after 10 days are $351.4m and $423.1m.
While UK/Ireland continues to deliver as the top international market ($61.6m so far), viewed regionally it’s Latin America that is most in the pink.
Barbie is already the second-biggest Warner Bros film of all time in Latin America, behind Joker, and beating the lifetime totals of top franchise fare such as Batman V Superman, Aquaman and the final Harry Potter film.
Barbie is the second-biggest film of 2023 (behind The Super Mario Bros Movie) in both Latin America and Europe. Globally, it ranks third, behind both The Super Mario Bros Movie ($1.35bn) and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 ($845m). The Greta Gerwig film will overtake the latter Marvel space adventure this week.
In the international territory ranking for Barbie, UK/Ireland leads ahead of Mexico ($41.4m), Brazil ($33.5m), Australia ($30.6m) and China ($25.2m).
Exceptionally strong holds were achieved in Taiwan (+37% from the opening weekend), Germany (+29%) and Hong Kong (+11%). China, where many US studio films have shown poor traction in 2023, saw a slim 11% dip from the opening weekend. Among other major markets, Australia fell just 11% and France 20%.
The question for Barbie is not whether or not the film will crack $1bn worldwide, but when it will do so. This coming weekend looks the likely date.
The total for The Super Mario Bros Movie stood at $693.1m after two weekends of play – and Barbie is currently 12% ahead of that number. Family films can enjoy a strong sustain during holiday periods, whereas Barbie has a more adult audience skew than Super Mario, and is rated PG-13 in North America. However, Barbie has the whole of the summer holiday ahead of it in key northern hemisphere markets.
International and Imax boost ‘Oppenheimer’
Like Barbie, Universal’s Oppenheimer enjoyed a better hold in international markets (down just 26% from opening weekend) than it did in North America (falling 44%). Christopher Nolan’s film grossed an estimated $72.4m for international and $48.2m in North America, combining to give second-weekend takings of $118.6m.
Totals so far are $226.3m for international, $174.1m in North America, and $400.4m worldwide.
Oppenheimer is already the biggest Nolan film in 28 international markets (including India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey), and the director’s biggest non-Batman film in 40 markets (including Mexico and Brazil).
Imax delivered $24.0m global box office for Oppenheimer at the weekend – 20.2% of the total. The Imax total after 10 days is $80.7m – likewise 20.2% of the film’s cumulative total. Oppenheimer is the second-fastest film to reach $80m on Imax screens in like-for-like markets (for example, excluding Russia, as well as several key territories yet to release), tied with Avengers: Endgame.
Among international markets, UK/Ireland is the runaway winner so far for Oppenheimer, with $34.9m – almost double second-ranked Germany ($17.8m). France ($17.3m) is right behind, then Australia ($13.4m) and India ($13.0m).
Future openings include South Korea (August 15), Italy (August 23) and China (August 30). A release date has not yet been announced for Japan.
Also for Universal, The Super Mario Bros Movie continued its very strong run in Japan, adding $537,000 there in its 14th weekend of play, and taking the total for the territory to $97.6m. Global total is $1.35bn.
‘Haunted Mansion’ begins international rollout
Given a production budget reported at $150m, opening numbers look fairly soft for Disney’s Haunted Mansion: an estimated $24.0m in North America plus $9.0m for the first 35 international markets, combining to deliver a $33.0m debut.
The international openings represent around 50% of that landscape, taking advantage of different summer holiday opportunities, territory by territory. For family films in the summer holiday, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, so it’s too early to be projecting final totals for Haunted Mansion.
Top international numbers so far for the film are France ($1.8m) and Mexico ($1.2m). Future key openings are UK/Ireland (August 11), Italy (August 23), Australia (August 23) and Japan (September 1).
This is Disney’s second attempt to mount a blockbuster film based on its spooky theme park ride, following 2003’s The Haunted Mansion, which grossed $182.3m worldwide. The new version is directed by Justin Simien (Dear White People), with a cast led by LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson and Danny DeVito.
Also for Disney, Elemental continues to show strong legs, especially in international markets where it fell just 21% on its sixth weekend of play. Global total is now $395.3m, and the film will pass $400m this week.
This latest original story from Pixar began with $45m from North America and 17 international markets – and has never grossed as much as $50m globally in a single weekend. It has already achieved nearly nine times its opening number. Top international market remains South Korea ($43.3m), ahead of Mexico ($19.4m) and France ($16.8m). UK/Ireland (currently $15.1m) will soon overtake China ($15.8m).
Aussie horror ‘Talk To Me’ lands in global top 10
A24 is celebrating the successful North America release for Australian teen horror Talk To Me – opening with an estimated $10.0m from 2,340 cinemas, yielding a $4,285 average. Danny and Michael Phlippou direct the Adelaide-set tale featuring teenagers enjoying the addictive thrill ride of temporary supernatural possession. Release in 15 international markets (including Australia via Maslow Entertainment, and UK/Ireland via Altitude) pushes the weekend total to $14.0m.
Talk To Me was one of six titles at the North America box office grossing at least $10m at the weekend. Another is Angels Studios’ faith-based hit Sound Of Freedom – which added an estimated $12.4m in its fourth weekend of play, taking the total to $149.0m. Jim Caviezel stars as the real-life US former government agent who embarks on a mission to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia.
Chinese hit climbs worldwide chart
With $57.5m box office in its second weekend of play (a 35% rise on the opening weekend), Chinese fantasy tale Creation Of The Gods: Part 1 rises from fourth to third place at the global box office. Total to date is a nifty $153.4m.
Creation Of The Gods: Part 1 is based on famous 16th-century fantasy novel Fengshenyanyi, telling the story of mythical wars between humans, immortals, demons and spirits more than 3,000 years ago. The film is the first in a planned trilogy telling the epic tale.
Landing in fifth place in the latest worldwide chart (with $35.9m for the weekend, and $53.3m including previews) is One And Only – a youth comedy set in the world of street dance. Dong Chengpeng directs Huang Bo (who also appears in Creation Of The Gods) and rising star Wang Yibo, who rose to fame as a member of boyband Uniq.
According to Artisan Gateway, China box office for 2023 totals $4.90bn so far – a 50.9% rise on 2022 for the same period. Numbers trail pre-pandemic 2019 by 5.5% for the year to date.
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