UPDATE, writethru: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office.
The sophomore overseas frame was $46.4M in 52 markets with a slighter drop than in North America, coming in 57% behind last weekend’s bow — which itself was nevertheless lower than projections owing in part to softness in Asia Pacific. It’s not the worst drop for Marvel, but it’s not great either.
The same theories from last weekend’s offshore start continue to apply: Early critical scores dampened wannasee, sci-fi of the Star Wars ilk is a hard sell in some Asian markets and the gap between Marvel movies in China may be a challenge (amid a certain lack of appetite for Hollywood movies there in general). More will be borne out over the coming months as several studio movies are due for release.
Europe and Latin America are still looking okay on AM3, and the overseas final should reach up into the $280M arena while worldwide will surpass $500M.
The threequel remains the No. 1 non-local movie in all markets, save for Norway and Saudi Arabia (where Cocaine Bear and Plane, respectively, took the top spots).
The global cume to date on AM3 has exceeded the final gross of 4 MCU releases (The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor and Black Widow) at current rates and excluding Russia. Internationally, Quantumania is above The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor and Shang-Chi so far and likewise at current rates and excluding Russia.
The Top 5 markets to date are China ($31.5M), UK ($17.8M), Mexico ($13.1M), Korea ($10.8M) and France ($9.5M).
In IMAX, Quantumania has grossed $32.5M globally. (And, speaking of IMAX, China Film’s The Wandering Earth II has become its highest-grossing local language film ever with $51.5M of the $570M gross coming from the format.)
In other Disney news, Avatar: The Way of Water has now reached $2.267B worldwide including $1.602B internationally. The current overseas frame waded to $9.4M in 52 markets, a 20% drop. After 11 weekends, WoW has become the highest-grossing movie ever in Europe (at current rates and excluding Russia).
The Top 5 markets are China ($244.6M), France ($150.3M), Germany ($141M), Korea ($107.7M) and the UK ($92.3M).
New this weekend, Universal’s Elizabeth Banks-directed Cocaine Bear sniffed up $5.3M internationally to bring the global bow to $28.4M.
Playing in 50 markets, openings excluding previews were above Violent Night and Beast, and in line with Crawl in like-for-likes. The UK led with $2M for No.3 in the market, playing to upscale audiences as well. Australia got off to a $1M start at 243 locations with performance growing throughout the frame thanks to word of maw. Norway ($157K) and Sweden ($151K) launched well, outperforming comps and playing broadly with holidays ahead. Saudi Arabia debuted with $148K. The film is not releasing in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, but previous concerns about censorship eased when audiences started seeing the film. A strong run is expected. Still to come are France, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Italy and Germany.
Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish added another $7.4M from 80 markets for a 30% drop to lift international to $269.1M and global to $442.5M. Offshore, the cume through Sunday is 46% ahead of Sing 2 and in line with Sing and How To Train Your Dragon 3.
Meanwhile, an animated Warner Bros Spain co-production that’s so far been a bit under the radar, Mummies, saw great expansion this weekend. With an estimated $6.9M from 57 overseas markets, the international cume to date to $18.5M. Directed by Juan Jesus Garcia Galocha (who’s worked on the Tad: The Lost Explorer franchise), the movie notably debuted in Spain this session with $1.5M at No. 1. The start there sets it tracking well above recent comps with a strong week expected ahead as school holidays continue in Madrid. WB made a strategic bet on the film that is understood to be budgeted under $10M, and began staggered offshore rollout from early January. Play will continue with a March 31 UK date. This is a 4Cats Pictures SL, Anangu Grup SLU and Moomios Movie AIE co-production distributed by Warner Bros. Entertainment España.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Missing (SNY): $5.1M intl weekend (47 markets); $5.1M intl cume/$36.5M global
Magic Mike’s Last Dance (WB): $3M intl weekend (41 markets); $24.7M intl cume/$48M global
A Man Called Otto (SNY): $1.7M intl weekend (44 markets); $41.2M intl cume/$103.5M global
Babylon (PAR): $1.2M intl weekend (44 markets); $46.5M intl cume/$61.9M global
Tar (UNI): $1.2M intl weekend (37 markets); $10.2M intl cume/$16.8M global
Die Drei ??? – Erbe des Drachen (SNY): $1.1M intl weekend (4 markets); $11.3M intl cume
Knock at the Cabin (UNI): $639K intl weekend (66 markets); $18.2M intl cume/$52.1M global