Worldwide box office December 13-15
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | Cume (int’l) | Territories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Moana 2 (Disney) | $83.8m | $717m | $57.2m | $379.5m | 53 |
| 2. | Wicked (Universal) | $44m | $525m | $21.5m | $165.9m | 82 |
| 3. | Pushpa: The Rule - Part 2 (various) | $29.2m | $166.8m | $27.6m | $154m | 37 |
| 4. | Kraven The Hunter (Sony) | $26m | $26m | $15m | $15m | 61 |
| 5. | Gladiator II (Paramount) | $17.5m | $398.5m | $9.7m | $252.6m | 66 |
| 6. | The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim (Warner Bros) | $8.6m | $10.3m | $4m | $5.7m | 73 |
| 7. | Her Story (various) | $7.1m | $88.1m | $7.1m | $87.7m | 8 |
| 8. | Red One (Warner Bros) | $6.8m | $175.3m | $2.3m | $82.6m | 76 |
| 9. | The Last Dance (various) | $6.6m | $29.6m | $6.6m | $29.3m | 8 |
| 10. | Cells At Work! (Warner Bros) | $5.7m | $5.7m | $5.7m | $5.7m | 1 |
Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates
Moana rides the wave
Disney sequel Moana 2 held the global box office lead for a third consecutive weekend, with a drop of 46.2% on last time out nowhere near enough to knock it off top spot.
The animated feature added $83.8m from 53 territories, for a global total of $717m – sneaking past the $714m of Dune: Part Two to become the fourth highest-grossing release of 2024.
It is also the fourth highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios release ever, behind Frozen II ($1.5bn), Frozen ($1.3bn) and Zootopia ($1bn).
The film remained in top spot in most major markets, including North America, UK-Ireland, France, Germany and Mexico; and is the number one non-local title in markets including China.
The best holds this weekend were in Korea (-35%), Australia (-37%) and Japan (-37%), as part of a $379.5m international total – the fifth highest-grossing international release of the year, ahead of titles including Venom: The Last Dance ($334m), Kung Fu Panda 4 ($354m), and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ($375m).
With all international markets now open, the coveted $1bn mark may be beyond Moana 2, but it appears to have won the battle of the November blockbuster releases, ahead of Universal’s Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II.
Wicked defies gravity
John M. Chu’s fantasy musical Wicked continues to play well after four weekends in cinemas, surpassing Les Misérables to become the second highest-grossing stage adaptation of all time, behind only Mamma Mia! ($611.4m).
The film opened in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland this weekend, taking a cumulative $6m – more than double the start of Les Misérables when excluding previews. Its $4.9m in Germany was the biggest non-sequel opening of 2024, and biggest stage adaptation opening ever.
The UK and Ireland continues to head to Oz in droves, dropping just 35% with $4.4m. This was only just behind the $4.6m of Moana 2, raising the prospect of Wicked regaining its number one spot in the market next week. It has now crossed $50m in the territory – further details will be posted in Screen’s UK-Ireland box office column later today.
Other strong holdovers included the UAE (-21%), Hong Kong (-22%), Israel (-24%), Taiwan and Korea (both -27%).
The film is now up to $525m, of which $165.89m comes from international territories – in line with The Little Mermaid and Mamma Mia 2 and above Les Misérables at the same stage.
The first part of the two-part story sees Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba battle then team up with Ariana Grande’s Galinda, to try to help the animals of Oz. Part Two, which shot consecutively with Part One, will be released on November 21, 2025.
Kraven, Rohirrim stumble
After several sessions of thriving openers, both Sony’s long-awaited Marvel title Kraven The Hunter and Warner Bros’ animation The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim suffered on opening weekend.
Kraven started with just $26m worldwide, comprised of $11m from North America and $15m from 60 other international territories.
It was down on the also-disappointing $49.1m start of fellow Sony Marvel feature Madame Web from mid-February this year; and way off the $175m start of Venom: The Last Dance from October, with that film now up to $475.4m.
The only solace for Sony will be the key Kraven markets still to come: France (December 18), Ukraine (December 19), Thailand (December 25), India (January 1, 2025) and South Korea (January 17).
The film tells the story of Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father starts him down a path of vengeance. J.C. Chandor directs from Ricardh Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway’s screenplay, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Russell Crowe, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola and Christopher Abbott starring.
Warner Bros’ The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim failed to excite either Tolkein or anime fans, with a flat $8.6m weekend from 73 territories. North American led the way with $4.6m from over 2,600 locations; while UK-Ireland made just $607,000 from 515 sites.
Pushpa profits
Bollywood crime drama Pushpa: The Rule – Part 2 profited from the lacklustre openings, holding its number three spot in the global chart with a $29.2m session from 37 territories.
$27.6m of this came from international markets, where the film is now up to an impressive $154m ($166.8m worldwide).
The box office appears not to have been adversely affected by the arrest of its Indian star Allu Arjun on December 13, a week after a stampede at a screening in Hyderbad, India attended by Arjun killed a woman and left her son seriously injured. Arjun was granted an interim bail by the Telangana High Court shortly after his arrest.
The sequel, directed by Sukumar, sees the eponymous character struggle to sustain his sandalwood smuggling business in the face of opposition from the police.
Gladiator II battles for more
Paramount’s Gladiator II is closing in on the $400m mark, with a $17.5m session taking it to $398.5m from five weekends in cinemas. Top locations included the UK and Ireland, where it added $1.2m to hit $35.7m; France, where $1.1m took it to $26.4m; and Mexico, where $705,000 topped up to a $15.6m total.
Ridley Scott’s 2000 first film made $465.5m worldwide, which, albeit at significantly different currency rates, is still just about in reach for the sequel.
No comments yet