As Sony touted that it had passed the $3 billion worldwide mark this weekend with $1.9B internationally to add to its already hefty $1.119B domestic take, all eyes internationally were on Warner Bros.’ The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug as it continued traveling across the world. In 62 markets, the Hobbit sequel has been No. 1 internationally (and domestically) for three straight weekends, pulling in about another $98.3M (-18%) for an estimated cume of $423.8M. Add in domestic and WB has a $614.1M haul so far. Warner Bros. executives expect Smaug to do about as good as the first Hobbit all in. Meanwhile Frozen slid in with another $50.5M in its fifth week of release from 43 territories (representing about 71% of the international marketplace) and is now at a $243.5M cume or worldwide, chalk up $491.2M. Frozen held extremely well in Italy, Germany, and France. it opened in Australia to $5.2M with previews that brought its total take up to $6.5M, representing the third biggest opening for Disney/Pixar behind only Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3. But the animated monster is Despicable Me 2 (UPI) which has the distinction of having a $920.7M worldwide total so far to date with one more market — the big Chinese market — to go on Jan. 10th.
Related: Domestic Box Office: ‘Hobbit,’ ‘Frozen,’ Together Take 34% Out Of Weekend, ‘Anchorman 2,’ ‘Hustle,’ ‘Wolf’ Follow
A quick look at Christmas Box office players abroad: 47 Ronin, now in 29 markets, grossed about $13.8M at 2,070 locations for a total international take of $22.3M. It has opened No. 1 in many territories (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, Taiwan, UAE) and held in Singapore at No. 1 for its second weekend. Still, with the domestic gross added in of about $20.6M, Universal and Elliot is still looking at only $42.9M all in. Not enough. On the other hand, About Time grossed another $2.5M in 15 territories to raise its international cume to $64.9M. Strength from the Korean box office, with a 17-day total of $18.9M, has pushed it passed the U.S. to become the highest-grossing territory and has even outgrossed Smaug. Go figure.
Other U.S. Christmas titles The Wolf of Wall Street, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walking With Dinosaurs, and Saving Mr. Banks internationally are working their way through the marketplace. Wolf is in UK and Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Scandanavia. It placed No. 2 and grossed $460,000 at 56 dates. Rest of the territories open Jan. 3. Anchorman 2, a total of $8M in six markets for a cume to date of $25.4M. Quite good. Add in domestic and it has done $108.6M. In 39 markets, Mitty earned a strong $27.2M higher now than its domestic take of an estimated $25.7M. It opens in 22 markets next weekend and is only in 8 of the top 15 markets right now. So worldwide cume is about $52.9M; Dinosaurs is in 46 markets and earned $12.5M for an international cume of $33.4M. Worldwide cume is now $54.7M after this weekend. It is holding well in several markets (Spain, France, Mexico, South Korea and Japan). Opens next weekend in six more markets including Australia and New Zealand. Saving Mr. Banks, which lost its audience in the UK where it was thought it might do well, is only at $43.8M all in ($6M from overseas).