'Cloverfield,' 'Asterix' shine in Europe
'Scusa,' 'Mortadelo' hot at home
Local fare held top spot in Italy and Spain, where the second frames of “Scusa ma ti chiamo amore” and “Mortadelo & Filemon. Mission: Save the Planet” were victorious.
As awards season approaches climax, kudos contenders, including “No Country for Old Men,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Wild,” held well and “Juno” delivered in its Spanish debut.
In the U.K., Paramount’s “Cloverfield” took a monster $6.9 million at 386 locations, according to Rentrak data. The screen average of $17,748 was streets ahead of the field in an upbeat overall frame.
Tim Burton’s blood-spattered musical “Sweeney Todd” slipped 46% (excluding first weekend previews) in its second frame for an impressive $15.7 million cume. The falloff pleased bookers. “Warner sold it very much as a Burton horror, not a musical, so we expected a hefty dropoff when word got out that it was a musical. But is has held well considering ‘Cloverfield’ opened up big,” said one exhib.
Surprise success of the weekend was romantic comedy-fantasy “Over Her Dead Body,” which pulled a beefy $2 million at 301. Bookers attribute success to Entertainment’s bullish campaign and the rising popularity of “Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria Parker.
Pics appealing to teen girls, such as “St Trinian’s,” “P.S. I Love You” and “Dead Body,” have been working well in Blighty so far this year.
As expected, the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” held very well in its third frame. Dipping just 15% from 90 more locations, the Oscars and BAFTAs contender has cumed $7.7 million for Par in Blighty.
In Italy, local romancer “Scusa ma ti chiamo amore” (Sorry If I Call You Love) held onto the number one spot in its second frame, while Woody Allen’s “Cassandra’s Dream” debuted at number two, ahead of “Cloverfield.”
“Scusa,” a tantalizing teen pic toplining hunky Raoul Bova as a thirty-something ad man who becomes entangled with a 17-year-old brunette, dropped 44% but still scored a lovely $3.9 million for Medusa. Pic has a $13.2 million cume.
“Cassandra’s Dream” underperformed a bit, but still opened well at $2.5 million off 360 for a $7,000 screen average via Filmauro.
“Cloverfield” pulled the frame’s highest per-screen haul, tallying $7,800 per engagement. The trendy Manhattan-set sci-fier debuted in third place with $2.2 million from 286 via Universal.
Meanwhile, “Into the Wild” continued its strong run, up 11% in its second frame, with $1.2 million off 191 for a $2.9 million cume to date via BIM Distribuzione.
“P.S. I Love You” opened only so-so, taking in $832,000 from 250 via 01 Distribuzione, below expectations for the Hilary Swank starring chick-flick.
“Asterix at the Olympic Games” bowed massively for Pathe in its first five days in Gaul. A take of $23.8 million on a whopping 1,078 screens has done much to ease nerves for all involved in the $115 million picture, France’s most expensive production ever.
With just over a 10th of “Asterix’s” weekly take, second placed “A Widow at Last” is showing sprightly legs in its third frame. Down 30% for Gaumont, it’s cumed $12.2 million on 533.
Warner’s “Sweeney Todd” suffered a 52% tail-off in its second frame for a cume of $6.3 million.
“No Country for Old Men” has been a good earner for Paramount. Down 32% in its second frame, it has cumed $4.4 million on 356.
And off only 18% in its fourth frame, “Into the Wild” has also offered pleasing returns for Pathe, cuming a hearty $7.4 million on 243.
In Germany, “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” continued to hit pay dirt and managed to defend its number one spot from new challenger “Asterix at the Olympic Games.”
Jon Turteltaub’s actioner “Treasure” garnered $3.4 million, down 38%, for a running total of $9.9 million.
Bolstered by tyke admissions, Constantin’s “Asterix” opened respectably at number two with $3 million from 600, despite scathing reviews. However, the latest adaptation of Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo’s comic hero pic had the weakest opening of the three live-action “Asterix” films so far.
In 1999, “Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar” opened with $6.2 million, followed by “Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra,” which took in $4 million in its opening weekend in 2002.
Til Schweiger’s blockbusting romantic comedy “Keinohrhasen” continued its boffo run well into its seventh week, pulling in more than $2.7 million for a running cume of $41 million via Warner.
Following in fourth, “P.S. I Love You” dropped 27% to $2.3 million in its third frame for a $12.7 million total.
Again rounding out the top five was Warner’s “The Bucket List,” which took in $1.5 million, a drop of just 19%, for a $4 million cume.
Opening in sixth, “Cloverfield” garnered $1.4 million from 345 via Universal, while Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” landed in 10th with $468,764 from 76 via Tobis, giving it a respectable per-location average of $6,168.
Overall, the German box office was down 6% from the previous week.
In Spain, local pic “Mortadelo & Filemon. Mission: Save the Planet” held top spot in its soph sesh. On Pictures’ movie banked $2.6 million for a nice $7.5 million cume.
And there were strong debut showings by “Rambo” and “Juno,” which posted strong copy averages of $7,005 and $6,905, respectively.
In an upbeat overall Spanish frame, “Cloverfield” exceeded expectations.
Manga’s “Rambo” took $2.4 million off 350, with $636,247 banked on Friday, according to Manga sources. Chart-topper ‘Mortadelo” did $382,927 on the same day.
Despite predictions of a sharp fall-off “Mortadelo” dipped a respectable 37%, benefiting from being the only movie targeting wide family auds.
“Juno” bowed on a limited 139 and took $959,796. Bookers hope that strong word of mouth will mean long legs for the indie.
UPI’s opener “Cloverfield” grabbed $2 million off 363; good takings given reservations about its potential were expressed pre-release by both bookers and distrib.
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” disappointed, despite unanimously strong reviews, collecting just $109,664 off 55.
“It was definitely one of the worst dates to release Julian Schnabel’s movie with ‘Juno,’ after its phenomenal U.S. run, now in theaters,” concluded a distrib.
Additional reporting by Ed Meza (Germany), Emilio Mayorga (Spain), Nick Vivarelli (Italy) and David Hayhurst (France).
