Worldwide box office October 18-20
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | Cume (int’l) | Territories |
| 1. | Smile 2 (Paramount) | $46m | $46m | $23m | $23m | 63 |
| 2. | The Wild Robot (Universal) | $33.3m | $196m | $23.2m | $94.3m | 77 |
| 3. | Joker: Folie a Deux (Warner Bros) | $16.9m | $191.9m | $14.7m | $135.5m | 79 |
| 4. | Terrifier 3 (various) | $12.3m | $44.8m | $3m | $8.6m | 10 |
| 5. | Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros) | $8.7m | $434.6m | $3.7m | $150.6m | 75 |
| 6. | The Volunteers: To The War 2 (various) |
$8.5m | $154.5m | $8.5m | $154.5m | 2 |
| 7. | L’Amour ouf (Studiocanal) | $6.6m | $6.6m | $6.6m | $6.6m | 1 |
| 8. | The Substance (Mubi) | $5.2m | $42.1m | $4.3m | $28.7m | 36 |
| 9. | Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (Warner Bros) | $4.7m | $4.7m | $4.7m | $4.7m | 1 |
| 10. | Transformers One (Paramount) | $4.6m | $119m | $2.6m | $62.4m | 71 |
Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.
Sequel beats ‘Smile’ debut at global box office
With more than a week to go until Halloween, Paramount’s Smile 2 has established itself as the top horror offering for the spooky holiday, debuting with an estimated $46.0m globally. Honours between domestic North America and the film’s 62 international markets were exactly even: an estimated $23.0m in each case.
For comparison, the first Smile film opened just over two years ago with $37.3m globally: $22.6m in North America and $14.7m across 58 international markets.
Paramount achieved its biggest ever horror opening in 13 international markets including Italy and Spain with Smile 2, and also the biggest horror opening of 2024 in 13 markets, including France, Germany and Italy.
UK/Ireland led the international pack with an estimated $2.6m, but Smile 2 failed to top the chart there, landing behind a newly released The Wild Robot.
France comes next among international markets with an estimated $2.1m for Smile 2 – but likewise failing to top the chart, beaten by local film Beating Hearts (see below).
Smile 2 grossed an estimated $2.0m in Germany, and $1.3m apiece in Mexico, Australia and Italy.
Strong word-of-mouth propelled the first Smile film to a lifetime total of $217.4m – $105.9m in North America and $111.5m for international. That number represents 5.8 times the opening weekend figure.
This time around, Smile fans would be expected to rush out for the sequel, and Paramount will presumably not be expecting to achieve such a high multiple of Smile 2’s $46m opening number by the end of its run.
UK/Ireland release boots ‘The Wild Robot’
A total of 21 new-release markets helped propel Universal’s The Wild Robot to another strong performance at the weekend, led by UK/Ireland with a $4.2m chart-topping debut, including $236,000 in previews.
The DreamWorks animation delivered an estimated $23.2m across 76 international markets, dropping a slim 22% in holdover territories. For North America, the weekend estimate is $10.1m – down a gentle 28%.
In cumulative, The Wild Robot has reached $94.3m for international plus $101.7m in North America – combining to deliver a $194.0m global total.
UK/Ireland led all international markets at the weekend. The other new openers were smaller territories, led by Belgium (an estimated $663,000) and Ukraine ($466,000).
The Wild Robot is already in its fourth week of release in Mexico (the top international market cumulatively, with $13.7m) and its fifth week in Australia ($9.9m).
The other top international territories are France and Spain ($4.6m and $4.4m, both now in their second week of release), followed by UK/Ireland from just its opening weekend.
Since release, Universal has been offering box office comparisons (eg for opening numbers in individual markets) between The Wild Robot and its own Migration (Illumination) and The Bad Guys (DreamWorks). The Bad Guys and Migration respectively grossed $250.4m and $299.9m lifetime worldwide.
For the latest weekend of play, Universal has added comparisons with DreamWorks’ Trolls – which reached $347.3m lifetime in 2016. That Trolls number now represents a realistic target for The Wild Robot, given the strong traction the island adventure is currently enjoying globally.
‘Beating Hearts’ delivers French hit
France is continuing its strong run of local hits in 2024 with the release of Beating Hearts (aka L’Amour Ouf), directed by Gilles Lellouche. The Studiocanal release, which features an ensemble cast including Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil, has debuted with an estimated $5.3m – landing in seventh place in Comscore’s global weekend chart.
Beating Hearts, which earned mixed reviews when it premiered at Cannes in May, is a romantic crime drama unfolding over a number of years, and clocks in at a lengthy 166 minutes.
The success of the film follows that of comedy A Little Something Extra (Un Pe’tit Truc En Plus) and historical swashbuckler The Count Of Monte Cristo – the number one and two films in France so far this year, respectively with 10.7 million and 9.0 million admissions. The top US film in France this year, and third place overall, is Inside Out 2 (Vice-Versa 2 locally), with 8.4 million admissions. Fourth is Despicable Me 4 (Moi, Moche Et Mechant 4) with 4.5 million admissions.
China opening helps ‘Joker: Folie À Deux’
The arrival of Joker: Folie À Deux in China gave a boost to the Warner Bros/DC Films sequel, which grossed an estimated $14.7m across 78 international markets at the weekend, plus a mediocre $2.2m in North America.
The China opening, including previews since last Wednesday (October 16) is estimated at $5.9m – 35% of the film’s $16.9m global haul for the weekend.
The latest takings take the totals for Joker: Folie À Deux to $135.5m for international and $56.4m in North America, combining to deliver $191.9m worldwide.
Five years ago, Joker reached $1.08bn worldwide over the course of its full run: Folie À Deux might achieve around a quarter of that number.
Also for Warner Bros, the studio continues its rereleasing of Harry Potter films in China. This weekend saw the arrival once again of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, grossing $4.7m according to Artisan Gateway.
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