Blockbuster Records Smashed

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Worldwide box office July 26-28

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ sets records for R-rated film

UPDATE: The summer 2024 box office has – at last – truly come to the boil with the release of Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, launching with an estimated $443.1m worldwide. That number divides into $211.0m for North America and $233.1m for 52 international markets.

It’s the highest global opening ever for an R-rated film, surpassing Deadpool, which launched with $264m in 2016 (but did not release in China other than at the Beijing International Film Festival two months after global rollout). It’s also the highest global opening since Spider-Man: No Way Home in like markets.

Disney had originally dated Deadpool & Wolverine to launch this year’s summer movie season with release on May 3 – but with filming interrupted by the SAG-AFTRA strike from mid-July to early November last year, the release was pushed back 12 weeks to late July to allow filming to resume and post-production to complete. (The Fall Guy moved in on the May 3 date, grossing $178.0m worldwide to date.)

Had Disney been able to stick with its original early-May launch plan for Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s likely that much of the negativity surrounding this year’s summer box office might have been avoided.

In international markets, the estimated $233m opening for Deadpool & Wolverine far surpassed previous R-rated record holder Joker’s $147m launch in like-for-like markets. The Marvel film delivered the highest opening weekend of 2024 in major territories including Germany, UK/Ireland and Australia.

Top international launch market for Deadpool & Wolverine was China with an estimated $24.0m, just ahead of UK/Ireland (a four-day $22.1m), then Mexico ($18.7m) and Australia ($13.0m), with Germany, Brazil and India all tied in fifth place ($10.0m).

A $36.5m debut on Imax represents the eighth-biggest opening of all time on the format, the biggest R-rated Imax debut ever, and the fourth-biggest ever for a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The $444.3m launch for Deadpool & Wolverine pushes the MCU to a $30bn worldwide total, the highest-grossing film franchise of all time.

Deadpool & Wolverine is already 56% of the way to matching both the $782.8m achieved by the original Deadpool in 2016, and the very similar $785.9m reached by Deadpool 2 in 2018 – both for Twentieth Century Fox.

Also for Disney, Pixar’s Inside Out 2 pushed through the $1.5bn barrier at the weekend, and has now reached $1.506bn. Inside Out 2 was already the biggest animated film of all time (beating Frozen 2), and had already overtaken the biggest hit of 2023, Barbie. Inside Out 2 is now the 12th biggest film of all time globally, and will next overtake Fast & Furious 7 ($1.515bn) and The Avengers ($1.521bn). These figures are not adjusted for inflation.

‘Bad Boys: Ride Or Die’ is biggest film ever in Saudi Arabia

Columbia Pictures’ Bad Boys: Ride Or Die added another $1.8m in international markets at the weekend, bringing the overseas total to $203.5m. Saudi Arabia, the top international market for the film, has reached $23.0m – setting a box office record for any film in the territory, and overtaking Top Gun: Maverick.

A US film’s top international market might more typically be China, UK/Ireland or Mexico, but Bad Boys: Ride Or Die – the fourth in the buddy-cop action franchise starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence – has over-performed in Middle East markets. UAE is the film’s sixth biggest international market, with $10.4m.

Also for Sony, Spanish local hit Father There Is Only One 4 added $1.3m in its second weekend of release, dropping 43% from the opening. Total after two weekends of play is $7.1m. The four films in Santiago Segura’s comedy franchise have collectively grossed more than $50m to date in Spain.

‘The Count Of Monte Cristo’ pushes towards $50m in France

Pathe’s release of literary adaptation The Count Of Monte Cristo continues to perform strongly in France in its fifth weekend of play, and latest takings of $4.34m sees the film return to Comscore’s top 10 worldwide box office chart (see above). Takings after 33 days of play total $46.2m, according to Comscore data.

Adapted from the 1844 Alexandre Dumas classic, the film is written and directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alaxandre de La Patellière, who together wrote (but did not direct) 2023’s The Three Musketeers two-parter (D’Artagnan, Milady).

Pierre Niney stars as the young ship’s captain who is banished to an island prison in 1815 thanks to the corrupt testimony of three enemies, escaping 14 years later to exact his revenge on the trio. The film premiered out of Competition in Cannes in May.

‘Despicable Me 4’ heads towards $700m

UPDATE: Illumination’s Despicable Me 4 is continuing its strong run, adding a confirmed $53.5m globally at the weekend, and taking the total to $679.3m. The film added more than $100m globally over the past seven days, and school holidays mean that it can perform almost as strongly on weekdays as at weekends.

Despicable Me 4 opened in South Korea at the weekend, launching with $4.0m including previews. Decline in international holdover markets was 37%.

Top international markets currently are China ($39.8m), Mexico ($36.8m) and UK/Ireland ($32.4m).

As a family film, Despicable Me 4 was less impacted by the arrival of Deadpool & Wolverine than proved the case with Twisters, which fell 54% in holdover markets (excluding China) for international distributor Warner Bros. Twisters – which is handled domestically by Universal – has reached $220.8m globally. North America ($154.7m) has acheived more than double the international total ($66.1m).

Conclusion:
The summer box office has come to life with the release of Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, setting records for an R-rated film. Other films such as Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4 are also performing well.

FAQs:
Q: What is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time?
A: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has reached a total of $30bn worldwide.

Q: What is the highest-grossing animated film of all time?
A: Pixar’s Inside Out 2 has reached a total of $1.506bn worldwide.

Q: What is the biggest film ever in Saudi Arabia?
A: Columbia Pictures’ Bad Boys: Ride Or Die has reached a total of $23.0m in Saudi Arabia.

Q: What is the next film to overtake in the global box office rankings?
A: Inside Out 2 will next overtake Fast & Furious 7 ($1.515bn) and The Avengers ($1.521bn).