Overseas auds lukewarm on 'Cinderella'
Boxing pic a disappointment in Germany
Early foreign results for the Depression-era boxing pic underscore the tricky turf trod by distribs in marketing American-themed pics aimed at adults. "Cinderella Man" has attracted intense scrutiny in the aftermath of a $62 million Stateside run for Universal that fell short of expectations.
Ron Howard's drama -- which has received strong critical response -- generated decent coin in the U.K., Spain, Italy and Mexico but turned into a disappointment in Germany. Since Miramax co-financed "Man," BVI's handling foreign distribution and has revved up promo campaigns targeted at each market.
The foreign push has generally downplayed pic's historic aspects of boxer James Braddock's riches-to-rags-to-riches story.
The foreign launch of "Cinderella Man" also marks the arrival of the first major awards season hopeful into international markets after a summer full of action tentpoles and family fare. As such, exhibitors are hoping that "Man" will show long legs in coming weeks by appealing to the same audiences that made "Million Dollar Baby" a success earlier this year with $115 million in offshore grosses.
"Cinderella Man" performed best in the U.K., punching up $1.4 million in its first five days. Exhibitors cite less-than-positive buzz, Russell Crowe's non-attendance at the U.K. preem and an "overly American schmaltzy feel" as reasons for the moderate initial response.
Italian audiences weren't knocked out by "Cinderella Man," bringing in only $1.2 million but exhibitors took heart from solid weekday numbers. A Roman booker notes that femme patrons may be unenthusiastic but he's holding out hope.
"We should wait before we judge it because word of mouth is bound to be good, people love the film when they see it, it is very emotional, and I don't think it will sustain a drop this weekend," the booker adds.
Spanish five-day "Cinderella Man" returns of $1.2 million were comparable to the launch of "Million Dollar Baby," which went on to gross an impressive $15.3 million in that market. Given the stellar reviews for "Man," bookers were disappointed it took in slightly over half the launch of "Brothers Grimm."
But in Germany, "Cinderella Man" opened feebly in sixth place with one exhibitor opining it was "too American and too sentimental" for Teuton audiences. Pic will probably not even crack the $1 million mark in Germany; by comparison, "Million Dollar Baby" grossed $4.25 million thanks to its best picture Oscar and controversy surrounding its right-to-die themes.
" 'Cinderella Man' is more of a classic underdog tale that is very familiar to people," a German booker says.
Overall biz of the Sept. 9-11 frame was respectable amid cooler weather in Europe. France rose 19%, Germany saw a 15% hike, Italy gained 10% and the U.K. was up 6% while Spain edged down 2%.
Warner's quirky but sturdy "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" easily won the weekend, thanks to first-place finishes in its Japanese bow and in Australia in its soph sesh, where its $3.2 million easily topped the combined grosses of the next four -- "Stealth," "Wedding Crashers," "Red Eye" and "Fever Pitch."
Holdover biz for "Charlie" remained remarkably strong in France as sales jumped 3% in its ninth week. With a French cume of nearly $25 million, pic's considered an unqualified success due to crossover appeal; one exhib says Franco fascination with the film stems from its portrayal of children as overindulged by their parents.
The family fave's totaled $157.2 million overseas as of Sept. 12, including a stunning $66 million from Blighty after seven weeks.
Despite being near the end of its run, UIP's "Madagascar" stayed solid with a $7.5 million weekend -- enough to cross the $300 million milestone in foreign grosses. Italian moviegoers, who had shunned other late-summer launches, have strongly supported the CGI toon within its first two weeks with grosses already topping UIP's "War of the Worlds."
"It is beautiful to see these results," one Italo booker opines of "Madagascar." "We did not expect it."
Sony's "Bewitched" continued to conjure up moderate returns offshore with foreign cume topping $42 million to push worldwide grosses past $103 million. The Nicole Kidman starrer won back-to-back frames in Germany with a middling $3.4 million cume; exhibitors opine the pic provided light entertainment for a broad range of moviegoers.
Comedy dominated in Blighty where Sony's Brit launch of "The Longest Yard" scored a victory, edging UIP's soph sesh of "The 40-Year-old Virgin." Exhibitors were impressed since American football lacks a big U.K. following and sports movies usually don't perform well.
"Virgin" slipped just 15% in its second frame, due to good word of mouth, catchy title and popularity of adult-themed comedies. Pic looks set to end up with $11 million in the U.K. -- solid biz considering it's toplined by relative unknown Steve Carell.
In France, launches of a pair of comedies propelled biz as Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers" and local entry "Ma vie en l'air" took the top spots. Bookers say "Flowers" hefty $2.1 million take on 229 screens reflects helmer's popularity here, as well as Gauls' love of Bill Murray.
In Spain, bookers were enthused over the performance of local drama "Princesses," which has cumed $2.17 million in its first two weeks.
Pic, directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa, centers on friendship and love in the world of prostitution.
"The movie is having an amazing word to mouth -- something that just hadn't happened to a local movie for many months," one Spanish exhibitor says.
(Ed Meza in Berlin, Sheri Jennings in Rome, Liza Klaussmann in Paris, Archie Thomas in London and Esther De Prado in Madrid contributed to this report.)
