Worldwide box office September 27-29
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | Cume (int’l) | Territories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | The Wild Robot (Universal) | $44.9m | $53.1m | $9.9m | $18.1m | 30 |
| 2. | Devara Part 1 (various) | $32.9m | $32.9m | $27.8m | $27.8m | 17 |
| 3. | Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros) | $29.6m | $373.3m | $13.6m | $123.2m | 78 |
| 4. | Transformers One (Paramount) | $25.9m | $72m | $16.6m | $32.8m | 62 |
| 5. | Speak No Evil (Universal) | $9.6m | $57.7m | $5.3m | $29.6m | 78 |
| 6. | Megalopolis (various) | $6.1m | $6.1m | $2.1m | $2.1m | 11 |
| 7. | The Substance (Mubi) | $5.4m | $14.8m | $3.6m | $7.9m | 36 |
| 8. | Never Let Go (various) |
$4.6m | $10.9m | $2.4m | $2.7m | 28 |
| 9. | The School Of Magic Animals 3 (various) | $4.5m | $5.6m | $4.5m | $5.6m | 2 |
| 10. | Veteran 2: I, The Executioner (various) | $3.7m | $44.3m | $3.5m | $44.2m | 4 |
Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.
Global expansion sees rise of ‘The Wild Robot’
The second week of release for Universal’s The Wild Robot sees the DreamWorks animation rise from sixth place to the top spot in Comscore’s worldwide chart, with estimated weekend takings of $44.9m.
This adaptation of the Peter Brown book series – about a helper robot adapting to life on an island inhabited only by wild animals – opened in North America, launching with an estimated $35.0m, and topping the domestic chart.
For international, the film expanded from eight early markets to 29 territories, grossing an estimated $9.9m. Global cumulative total is $53.1m.
Among new markets, Mexico led the pack with an estimated opening of $3.7m – a clear number 1 in the market, with a 35% share.
The other top new territories clustered with estimated openings around the half-million-dollars mark: Central America ($525,000), United Arab Emirates ($507,000) and Chile ($469,000). The Wild Robot opened at the top spot in all cases.
Among holdover markets, where the overall drop was 44%, Australia led with an estimated $1.6m (taking the total there to $4.6m), ahead of China with $821,000 (and a $5.0m total).
So far in 2024, sequels have led the way for animation, with Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 ($1.69bn) ahead of Universal/Illumination’s Despicable Me 4 ($953m) and Universal/DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 4 ($549m).
Despite The Wild Robot having the benefit of existing source material, the characters and storyline will be unknown to most audiences, and the film is being generally viewed as original IP within the family animation context.
Comparison titles offered by Universal include DreamWorks’ The Bad Guys (loosely based on the Aaron Blabey book series) and Illumination’s Migration (an original story). The Wild Robot is running around double the pace of those titles in most international markets so far opened.
In North America, The Wild Robot opened 46% ahead of 2022’s The Bad Guys and nearly triple the debut of 2023’s Migration.
Lifetime totals are $250.4m for The Bad Guys and $299.9m for Migration – so Universal will be presumably be hoping to reach $500m-plus with The Wild Robot.
Opening this coming week are South Korea (October 1) and Germany (October 3), with France, Brazil, Italy and Spain all to follow a week later, and then UK/Ireland (October 18) and Japan (February). Global rollout is staggered to take advantage of local holidays and competitive considerations.
Chris Sanders (How To Train Your Dragon) directs.
‘Megalopolis’ begins with shaky $6m foundation
Distributed by Lionsgate in the US and by various companies in international markets, Francis Ford Coppola’s ambitious, $120m-budget Megalopolis has fallen predictably flat, with an estimated global launch of $6.1m.
Box office commentators had suggested Megalopolis could be headed for a disappointing $5m debut in North America, and in fact the number has fallen short of that target – the estimated opening is just $4.0m. Lionsgate is distributing the film for a fee, so carries no risk.
Megalopolis has so far landed in 10 international markets, including in UK/Ireland via Entertainment Films and France via Le Pacte, beginning with an estimated $2.1m.
Screen International did not receive a territory breakdown for the international outcome – however, French box office data gatherer CBO measured just over 20,000 admissions for Megalopolis in France on its first day (September 25). That ranks the film 79th for the year to date in terms of day-one admissions in France. A final French total of 200,000 admissions is indicated.
‘Devara Part 1’ lands second place in worldwide chart
Telugu action drama Devara Part 1 has made a strong start in its home market India, as well as globally – with an estimated launch of $32.9m. That puts Kortala Siva’s film in second place in the worldwide weekend chart, behind only The Wild Robot.
North America (via Dreamz Entertainment) saw an estimated $5.1m launch. International (including India) delivered an estimated $27.8m.
NT Rama Rao Jr stars in a dual role, alongside Saif Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor and Shruti Marathe. The film is released in India in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada languages.
While impressive, Devara Part 1’s opening number is behind the pace of 2024’s biggest Indian film, Kalki 2898 AD, which launched in June with a four-day $66.0m. Total worldwide box office for the science fiction hit is reported at $130m.
‘Never Let Go’ enters top 10 chart
Lionsgate’s survival horror thriller Never Let Go has entered the worldwide top 10 chart in its second week of release thanks to expansion into 27 international markets. The Alexandre Aja-directed film, which stars Halle Berry, grossed an estimated $2.2m in North America on its second weekend of play (down 51%), and an estimated $2.4m for international. Global total is $10.9m.
Berry stars as a woman who believes she and her twin young sons must remain tethered by rope to their isolated woodland home when they venture outside to forage for food. Cracks in the family begin when one son questions the existence of the evil from which the ropes offer protection.
Never Let Go landed in eighth place in the weekend chart. Below The Wild Robot and Devara Part 1 are Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (now at $373.3m), Paramount animation Transformers One (now at $72.0m) and Universal/Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil (now at $57.7m). Below sixth-placed Megalopolis is Mubi’s The Substance (now at $14.8m).
Transformers One was boosted by new openings in major markets, led by China with an estimated $8.0m, then South Korea with $1.4m. The drop in international holdover markets was 44%.
Speak No Evil enjoyed gentle drops at the weekend for both North America (down 26%) and international (down 29%). UK/Ireland leads the international pack with $5.3m.
Second-weekend takings for The Substance are an estimated $5.4m from 36 markets globally, a modest drop from the film’s opening of $5.7m from 31 markets.
Below Never Let Go, in ninth place for the weekend, is German hit The School Of Magical Animals 3, launching with an estimated $4.5m for the weekend period and $5.6m in total. This is the third film in the series adapted from Margit Auer’s bestselling children’s book series, which were the biggest local hits in Germany in 2021 and 2022, grossing $20.6m and $18.2m respectively.
Propping up the worldwide top 10 chart is Korean hit I, The Executioner (aka Veteran 2). Ryoo Seung-wan’s crime thriller has grossed $44.3m to date.
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