'Pirates' swashbuckles into record books
Pic expected to join all-time top five foreign grossers
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" has dominated international markets as only half a dozen other films have -- "Titanic," the final two of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and three "Harry Potter" films. As of Aug. 30, BVI's "Dead Man's Chest" had passed "Jurassic Park" at $563 million to become seventh on the all-time list of foreign grosses.
With "Chest" daily grosses still topping $5 million, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" was in sight to be matched over the Sept. 1-3 frame in the sixth slot at $581 million. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was not far off in fifth with $602 million, nor was "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" in fourth with $604 million.
"Chest" saw its biggest success in the U.K., where exhibitors always had high hopes for the pic, which then exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. In its eighth weekend, it declined only 30% and still managed a third-place finish as it pushed its grosses past $94 million.
Ecstatic bookers describe the Depp starrer as "a genuine four-quadrant movie" and talk up the "sexy cast" and huge popularity of the original on homevid. The one negative -- many local critics judged the sequel as so-so at best -- did not put off Brit auds.
With domestic grosses near $409 million on Aug. 30, "Chest" was on the verge of passing "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" at $976.5 million as the third-highest worldwide grosser of all time. And it could hit the $1 billion mark by the end of next weekend, joining "Titanic" ($1.83 billion) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" ($1.13 billion) as the only pics with billion-dollar worldwide cumes.
"Chest," which set a launch weekend record in Greece with $2.2 million at 218 playdates during Aug. 25-27, still has some gas in the tank for two reasons -- solid holdover biz and its Italian launch on Sept. 15. Prospects for the latter look decent, given stellar numbers in other markets such as Germany with $55 million after five weeks and $74 million after six in Japan.
Distribs have often delayed opening summer tentpoles in Italy, given Italian moviegoers' historic aversion to attending cinema in summer. But Italo exhibitors expressed frustration that their territory turned out to be last in line for both "Pirates" and for "Superman Returns," which opened Sept. 1.
One noted that some multiplexes in Milan and other parts of Italy were forced to close for part of the summer due to lack of attractive product. And others point to past films such as "Bruce Almighty" and "Spider-Man" which generated strong summer returns.
"We understand that they may not want to go for a mid- July release, but the situation is too extreme," one booker groused.
Even with the monthlong distraction of the World Cup, overall international summer biz performed more than respectably and kept the box office on track to break the 2004 record of $8.5 billion overseas for the Hollywood majors -- BVI, Fox, Sony, UIP and Warner.
Besides "Dead Man's Chest," the other obvious contributor was Sony's "The Da Vinci Code" with $532 million. But with those two pics grossing over a billion dollars overseas, solid perfs by other summer pics went largely under the radar.
For example, BVI's "Cars" had cumed $160 million overseas and $400 million worldwide. With German opening Sept. 7, "Cars" should become the seventh pic to top $200 million in foreign grosses this year; but that figure's far short of the previous two Pixar entries, "Finding Nemo" at $525 million and "The Incredibles" at $360 million overseas.
"Cars" has taken in its best figures in the U.K. with nearly $27 million in five weeks. But that's $40 million less than "Nemo" grossed in its Blighty run and bookers noted that audiences may have become fatigued due to the seeming glut of CGI pics.
Still, "Cars" managed $10.5 million in two dozen markets during the final August frame -- or three times better than "Superman Returns," which had cumed $173 million internationally as of Aug. 27. The Man of Steel showed particularly scant traction in his soph sesh in Germany, sliding 67% to $637,931.
In Spain, where "Superman Returns" cumed $11.7 million, one exhibitor called the pic the biggest disappointment of the summer. "It opened poorly, dropped quickly and had poor word of mouth. That's not what one expects from super-heroes."
Though "Mission: Impossible III" is the year's fourth-highest foreign grosser at $261 million, it also carries a tinge of disappointment as it's $75 million short of the offshore cume for "Mission: Impossible II." Highest grosses came from Japan with $43 million, South Korea with $37 million and the U.K. with $29 million; cumes from France ($14.7 million) Germany ($10.7 million), Spain ($9 million) and Italy ($7.6 million) failed to meet expectations of local bookers.
Still, "MI3" more than doubled the foreign cume of Warner's "Poseidon," with $121 million as of Aug. 27. In France, "Poseidon" opened on a largish 583 screens in June, but the film quickly disappeared, finally hauling only $4 million for its total run in Gaul.
During the Aug. 25-27 frame, the "Pirates" sequel became the first pic of the century to win eight straight weekends with $18.1 million at 6,495 engagements in 42 markets. UIP's "Miami Vice" gained the distinction of finishing closer to "Dead Man's Chest" than any other pic with $11.5 million at 2,900 in 27 markets, powered by a first-place launch in Germany thanks to the combo of rainy weather and demand for a realistic crime drama.
"The summer has been largely dominated by child-friendly fantasies," one Teuton booker noted. "'Miami Vice' is a serious adult movie."
(Ed Meza in Germany, Sheri Jennings in Italy, Archie Thomas in the U.K., Liza Klaussman in France and Esther de Prado in Spain contributed to this report.)
