UPDATED: A generally quiet weekend at the international box office, amid holdover play for the major studio titles and the start of staggered release for newer entries, nevertheless included another milestone for Chinese phenomenon Ne Zha 2 which has moved up to become the 5th highest-grossing movie ever worldwide.
The Ne Zha 2 total in China through Sunday, according to Maoyan, is a little over RMB 14.86B ($2.054B using today’s exchange rate). Adding grosses in excess of $31M from markets outside China, and the global total rises to more than $2.085B. That places the animated sequel just above Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.071B) on the all-time global chart.
In China alone, Maoyan is projecting that NZ2 will final at RMB 15.2B ($2.1B). Ex-China rollout continues in Indonesia on March 21 while several European releases are ahead as well as Japan.
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In Imax, the running global cume is $155M — the 6th biggest Imax release ever. Of that, $151.6M is from China. In the UK, Imax screens repped 35% of the previews launch this weekend, giving NZ2 the biggest local-language opening for the format in the market.
For more on Ne Zha 2‘s blockbuster performance, see here.
In studio play, Warner Bros’ Mickey 17 reached $90.5M worldwide after the sophomore session of wide release. The weekend added $15.6M overseas (-37%), for an international box office cume of $57.2M.
Bong Joon-ho’s home turf of Korea continues to lead play with $17.9M after three frames, followed by the UK ($5.8M), France ($5.3M), Germany ($2.8M) and Mexico ($2.5M).
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The Imax total is $10.2M so far worldwide, 11.2% of the global cume to date.
Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World added $6M from 52 markets in the 5th weekend (-38%), taking the overseas cume to $203.2M for $388.6M global.
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The Top 5 markets are the UK ($22M), Mexico ($15.2M), China ($14.4M), France ($13.6M) and Korea ($11.3M).
On Wednesday, Disney crossed $1B global for 2025 so far, becoming the first studio of the year to the mark. This week, Disney’s live action Snow White hits cinemas worldwide.
Universal/Working Title’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy added another $5.4M (-31%) this weekend in 75 markets, taking the Uni international cume to $112.8M, in line with Bridget Jones’s Baby, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and well above Anyone But You and Ticket to Paradise. Including France, where Studiocanal releases, the offshore total is now $119M.
In the UK this weekend, Mad About the Boy surpassed the lifetime of Bridget Jones’s Diary to become Working Title’s 2nd biggest film ever and the 2nd biggest romcom of all time. The UK continues to lead play, now with $54.3M, followed by Australia ($9.4M), Netherlands ($5.6M), Germany ($5.6M) and Poland ($5.2M).
Japan and Korea are still on deck in April.
In new openers, Universal began early rollout on Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag with $4.3M from 37 markets. Globally, the start was $11.8M while the rest of international continues to release over the next two months. France ($1.2M), UK ($1.1M) and Australia ($600K) were the biggest launches.
Paramount’s Novocaine also began offshore rollout. In 19 markets (25% of the international footprint), the Jack Quaid-starrer injected $1.8M. Mexico was the lead play at $607K and No. 3, followed by Korea ($154K/No. 7) and Indonesia ($126K/No. 3). Combined with domestic, the debut was $10.5M.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Paddington in Peru (SNY): $2.3M intl weekend; $142.6M intl cume/$183.8M global
Anora (UNI): $2.2M intl weekend (53 markets); $22.4M intl cume ($32M incl FNE markets)/ $51.9M global
Dog Man (UNI): $1.4M intl weekend (58 markets); $32.8M intl cume/$125.6M global
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (PAR): $660K intl weekend; $253.5M intl cume/$489.3M global
September 5 (PAR): $125K intl weekend (20 markets); $5.5M intl cume/$8M global