Asia helps 'Superman' fly to top spot
Pic No. 1 in all 11 markets it landed upon
Pic hauled in a hair over $20 million over the frame, pulling in $24.4 million by July 5, and was No. 1 in all 11 markets it landed upon.
But without "Superman," Europe was starving for a blockbuster, and numbers there were unimpressive as the World Cup plays out and exhibs wait for tentpoles to keep pushing this year's B.O. rally.
Highlights for "Superman" were mostly in Asian play, including South Korea, where the pic has picked up $6 million so far, and was able to best the bow of "Batman Begins" as well as match the opening of the second film in the "Spider-Man" franchise.
"Superman" also connected Down Under. The pic had the advantage of high awareness, since it lensed in Sydney last year, and Warners got the benefit of heaps of local PR as a result. Also, school holidays are in full swing in Australia.
Infiltrating the Oz B.O. scene, "Superman's" tally topped Warners' previous release "Batman Begins" by 26%, and the pic bowed with $3.8 million from 409 screens there.
Other success stories were in the Philippines, where "Superman" was the country's widest launch ever, on 81 prints, and in India, where the superhero vanquished stiff local competish.
Imax screens also played a key part in the pic's No. 1 weekend finish -- pic's super-big-screen tallies topped $560,000 in seven markets.
In fact, with little new going on in Europe at the movies, Asia grabbed all the headlines. In Japan, "The Da Vinci Code" topped $70 million for Sony, besting the studio's previous top performer, 2002's "Spider-Man," which spun $65.8 million in its web.
Sony released "Da Vinci" on 644 screens May 20 in Japan. And in its seventh week, the pic is still playing on 620. However, "Mission: Impossible III" opens July 8 in Japan, and it should hit "Da Vinci" in the pocketbook.
"We'll have to move ('Da Vinci') to smaller venues, but we still expect to build on this record number," a Sony exec said.
The real test for "Superman" -- which is being counted upon by foreign distribs to help erase last year's B.O. slump and continue a strong run for Hollywood pics abroad -- will be when the pic plays in key Euro turf, including France, Spain, the U.K., Germany and Italy.
Without "Superman" or "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" in the way in Europe, CG-animated pics were racing to the B.O. finish line. "Cars" has raked in $43 million from 30 markets, while "Over the Hedge" has mowed down $38.6 million.
"Cars" raced to No. 1 in France, taking in $1.5 million for a total Gallic tally of $8.7 million. Local pic "Nos Jours Heureux" followed close behind, however, with a bow of $1.4 million.
Without Clark Kent saving the day in the U.K., Dreamworks' CG-animated "Over the Hedge" was able to take advantage. But the pic's numbers were inflated because they incorporated previews from the previous frame.
Biz in Blighty -- with that additional boost from "Hedge's" previews -- was up 37% from the previous weekend, but off last year's pace by 44%, likely due to World Cup play.
"Hedge" opened somewhat below expectations, which bookers attributed to hot weather and soccer. But they were enthusiastic that "Hedge" competed with the Cup at all, and say they are eagerly awaiting "Superman."
Following "Hedge" in the No. 2 spot was Lindsay Lohan vehicle "Just My Luck," which had low expectations coming in, following its U.S. perf. "The Da Vinci Code," meantime, is finally sliding off the U.K. charts in its seventh frame.
On the other end of the movie spectrum, Ken Loach's Cannes winner "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" held well in its soph frame. Pic is being powered primarily by boffo Irish numbers.
Another pic that U.K. exhibs are eagerly awaiting is the latest in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. Pic had a flashy July 3 London preem, and a four-day opening of $19 million is predicted, with a final take of more than $60 million.
But "Over the Hedge" didn't take the pole position everywhere. In Spain, it finished at No. 3. It has taken in just $6 million in two weeks, and exhibs see the pic as an underperformer in that market.
With "Hedge" hedging its bets, biz was flat in Spain overall, with no blockbusters buzzing around: In fact, the B.O. numbers overall were the same as the previous frame, just $7.5 million.
Despite a much publicized boycott by some exhibs over "Scary Movie 4" and Disney biz policies toward cinemas, the pic topped the charts for the second consecutive frame there. But one exhib felt the boycott had taken a toll: "(The film) has obviously been punished, especially in the megaplexes and suburban cinemas. Most of them are owned by the houses that refused to screen it."
Another exhib weighed in by saying: " 'Scary Movie 4' is exactly the kind of movie that can be damaged by these actions. People go watch it if it's in a nearby cinema, but they don't look for it very far away."
No. 2 in Spain was "The Lake House": With a total tally of $923,944, it had the best per-screen average of the bunch, despite poor notices.
Germany, the World Cup host nation, also was dismal: With only 360,000 tickets sold nationwide -- 1.4 million were sold during the same frame last year -- the weekend marked this year's low.
In its seventh week, "Da Vinci Code" safely kept the No. 1 spot in Germany, followed by Robin Williams comedy "RV."
One surprise was indie pic "Hard Candy," which charted at No. 6 with the Teutonic chart's best per-screen average.
"Over the Hedge" goes up against the Cup's final weekend, but with Germany surprisingly eliminated, maybe it will draw some fans too emotional to watch soccer.
Italy, which beat Germany in the Cup, was another territory that saw its B.O. tallies way down, with little exciting product energizing the market. World Cup fever was cited as a reason for overall decreased returns, as was "extremely hot weather."
"Over the Hedge" and "Cars" do not land in Italy until August.
(Michaela Boland in Australia, Archie Thomas in the U.K., Mark Schilling in Japan, Christian Koehl in Germany, Sheri Jennings in Italy and Esther de Prado in Spain contributed to this report.)
