Worldwide box office: January 31-February 2
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | Cume (int’l) | Territories |
| 1. | Ne Zha 2 (various) | $283.6m | $416.3m | $283.6m | $416.3m | 1 |
| 2. | Detective Chinatown 1900 (various) |
$129.4m | $247.4m | $128.7m | $246.3m | 8 |
| 3. | Creation Of The Gods II: Demon Force (various) | $42.9m | $125.1m | $41.6m | $123.8m | 10 |
| 4. | Dog Man (Universal) | $40.2m | $40.6m | $4.2m | $4.6m | 31 |
| 5. | Boonie Bears Future Reborn (various) | $25.6m | $56.5m | $25.6m | $56.5m | 1 |
| 6. | Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants (various) | $21m | $74.6m | $21m | $74.6m | 3 |
| 7. | Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney) | $17.8m | $653m | $11.7m | $423.5m | 53 |
| 8. | Companion (Warner Bros) | $15m | $15m | $5.5m | $5.5m | 61 |
| 9. | Operation Handal (various) | $13m | $35.4m | $13m | $35.4m | 1 |
| 10. | Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Paramount) | $10.2m | $462.5m | $7m | $232m | 66 |
Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.
‘Dog Man’ debuts with $40m worldwide
In a weekend session where new Chinese titles dominate the global box office chart (see below), two new US studio titles landed in the top 10: Universal’s Dog Man and Warner Bros’ Companion.
Of the two, DreamWorks animation Dog Man proved the convincing winner thanks to a much-stronger performance in North America with estimated takings of $36.0m. An estimated $4.2m for 30 international markets brings the weekend total to $40.2m, and the cumulative total to $40.6m. (The film had released early in Poland.)
Spain proved the top international market, with an estimated $1.1m, nabbing the top spot and a 20% market share. Mexico is next with an estimated $699,000, landing in second place behind a local hit. Italy began with an estimated $616,000.
Dog Man has many key international markets ahead of it, including UK/Ireland this coming weekend, and Brazil on February 27. Australia, France, Germany and South Korea all follow.
The film is based on Dav Pilkey’s graphic novel series Dog Man, which began in 2016. The series is a spinoff from Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series, which yielded DreamWorks Animation’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.
The Captain Underpants film debuted in North America in June 2017 with $23.9m on its way to a $73.9m total. In international markets, the total was $51.5m, combining for $125.4m worldwide. Dog Man has opened 51% bigger in North America, and Universal will be looking to reach a bigger lifetime total globally than was achieved by Captain Underpants.
‘Companion’ launches with middling $15m
Landing in eighth place in Comscore’s worldwide box office chart for the January 31-February 2 weekend is Warner Bros’ Companion. The sci-fi-tinged, darkly comic thriller debuted with an estimated $9.5m in North America (good enough for second place, behind Dog Man) plus a fairly weak $5.5m for 60 international markets. Top international market was UK/Ireland with an estimated $919,000.
Companion is the feature debut of writer director Drew Hancock (creator of go90 TV series My Dead Ex), and stars Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid visiting friends at a remote lakeside house – where murder, mayhem and major plot revelations ensue.
Although Companion has already achieved 80% of its international footprint, markets yet to release include Germany, Brazil and South Korea.
Chinese New Year delivers box office boom
New films released for the Chinese New Year holiday have flooded the global box office chart, taking the top three places, and six of the top 10.
The holiday period launched last Wednesday (January 29) with a one-day total of 1.8b yuan ($248m), beating the 2021 single-day record of 1.69b yuan.
Top title is Ne Zha 2, sequel to 2019 fantasy adventure animation Ne Zha, which grossed $726m worldwide. Ne Zha 2 has launched with a strong $283.6m for the weekend period, and a five-day $416.3m.
In second place is Detective Chinatown 1900, the fourth film in the buddy-comedy mystery franchise that began in 2015 and yielded sequels in 2018 and 2021. After films set in Bangkok, New York and Tokyo, the franchise’s crime-solving duo now find themselves investigating a murder in San Francisco.
Detective Chinatown 1900 has debuted with $129.4m for the weekend period, and a five-day $247.4m. The film is chasing the $686.3m achieved worldwide by Detective Chinatown 3 – almost all of it in China.
In third place is Creation Of The Gods II: Demon Force with $42.9m for the weekend period, and a five-day $125.1m. This is the second film in a trilogy that kicked off in 2023 with Creation Of The Gods I: Kingdom Of Storms. The trilogy is adapted from 16th-century novel Investiture Of The Gods.
Kingdom Of Storms grossed $373.0m worldwide – with a $1.7m contribution from North America, and almost all the rest from China.
Also landing in the worldwide weekend top 10 are Chinese films Boonie Bears Future Reborn, Tsui Hark’s Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants and Operation Hadal (see chart).
Future Reborn is the 11th film in the Boonie Bears franchise, and the last one – Boonie Bears: Time Twist – grossed $272m lifetime.
Operation Hadal is a sequel to 2018’s Operation Red Sea, which grossed $579m worldwide.
Awards season titles sustain at box office
Despite all missing the top 10 chart thanks to the powerful performance of Chinese titles, films in the running for Oscars and Baftas continue to show box office traction. Searchlight Pictures’ A Complete Unknown added an estimated $2.2m at the North American box office, falling 30%. Domestic cume is $66.7m, while international has hit $20.7m. The Bob Dylan film stayed top in UK/Ireland for the third successive weekend; holds the top spot in Australia and New Zealand; and opened top in France. Worldwide total is $87.4m.
Conclave, which has reached $32.0m in North America after 15 weeks for Focus Features, is still performing robustly in international markets, adding an estimated $2.8m at the weekend.
Totals so far for Conclave include $9.8m in UK/Ireland, $8.7m in France, $8.5m in Germany (home to director Edward Berger), $5.8m for Italy (where the Vatican-set mystery was filmed), $4.5m in Spain, $3.6m in Australia and $3.2m in Mexico.
International total is $58.9m, and worldwide it’s $90.9m.
Despite not achieving any Oscar or Bafta nominations, awards contender Babygirl has hit $27.9m in North America (Nicole Kidman’s biggest domestic hit since 2008’s Australia) and is headed for $50m worldwide. It’s A24’s biggest ever hit in Netherlands (home to writer-director Halina Reijn), with $3.7m. We are missing international updates, but latest available worldwide total is $47.8m.
‘Paddington In Peru’ adds $9m
Studiocanal’s Paddington In Peru added an estimated $8.7m at the weekend, taking the international total to $93.2m. Sony Pictures International markets accounted for $4.4m of the weekend haul.
Still to come is Sony’s Valentine’s Day weekend release in North America, plus release in international markets including France, Belgium, South Korea, Italy, Spain and Japan. The Peru adventure is chasing the $290.1m worldwide gross of 2017’s Paddington 2.
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