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By Charles Gant 2022-08-01T09:05:00+01:00

‘DC League Of Super Pets’

Credit: Comscore, all figures estimated, click top right to expand

Warner Bros’ DC League Of Super-Pets landed in North America and 63 international markets at the weekend, topping the domestic box office with an estimated $23.0m, and adding $18.4m for international.

Those numbers combine for a $41.4m opening session – eclipsing holdover US studio titles such as Minions: The Rise Of Gru and Thor: Love And Thunder.

UK/Ireland led international markets with a chart-topping estimated $3.1m – coming in 110% above the debut of Sony Pictures Animation/Marvel Entertainment’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, but below all the titles in Warner Animation Group’s own The Lego Movie franchise.

Super-Pets likewise topped the Mexico box office, with an estimated $2.1m. In both France and Brazil, the film landed in third place, with an estimated $1.6m and $1.1m respectively.

Jared Stern – who has screenplay credits on both The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie – co-writes and directs Super-Pets, which is based on the DC Comics superhero team Legion of Super-Pets.

Warner Bros estimates that the film has so far reached 76% of the international footprint. Netherlands, Hong Kong, Thailand and India all release this coming week. Major markets yet to open are South Korea (August 10), Japan (August 26), Italy (September 1) and Australia (September 15).

New Chinese release Moon Man has delivered the biggest debut for a film in the market since The Battle At Lake Changjin II landed on February 1 for the Chinese New Year holiday. The sci-fi comedy from Zhang Chiyu (Never Say Die, 2017) has blasted off with a strong $129.7m, and $147.3m including previews.

That puts Moon Man firmly at the top of the global box office – ahead of top US studio title DC League Of Super-Pets, and by a wide margin.

Shen Teng (Goodbye Mr Loser, 2015) stars as an astronaut who is stranded on the Moon, and then seemingly becomes the last man in existence after an asteroid destroys Earth.

Mahua FunAge produces alongside Alibaba Pictures.

The Chinese box office hit the doldrums this year after titles released for Chinese New Year tailed off. Recent weeks have seen a revival – and heartwarming drama Lighting Up The Stars, released on June 24, has now reached $245.1m. Hong Kong crime thriller Detectives Vs Sleuths, released July 8, also contributed to the recovery, with $98.8m.

The release of Moon Man has helped power the Chinese box office to its biggest weekend total since the Chinese New Year session in early February, according to Artisan Gateway data. However, the year-to-date total still lags behind 2022 by 32.8% for the equivalent period.

‘Minions: The Rise Of Gru’

Universal’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru contributed another sold session at the weekend – with an estimated $25.3m for international, down 36%, and $10.9m in North America, down 40%. Cumulative totals are $390.0m for international, $320.4m in North America, and $710.3m worldwide.

The Illumination Entertainment production ranks as the fifth-biggest film of 2022 worldwide, behind Top Gun: Maverick ($1.32bn), Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness ($955m), Jurassic World Dominion ($943m) and The Batman ($771m). For the pandemic era, The Rise Of Gru is also behind 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.90bn), No Time To Die ($774m), Fast & Furious 9 ($726m) and two Chinese films. That places The Rise Of Gru tenth overall for the pandemic era, and the top animation.

Top market for the Minions film at the weekend was South Korea ($3.2m), where the film is only in its second week of release. UK/Ireland leads the international pack for cumulative totals, with $40.0m – in line with the first Minions film and Despicable Me 3 at the same point of release.

The Rise Of Gru is now 61% of the way to matching the $1.16bn global total achieved by Minions in 2015, and has reached 69% of the $1.03bn tally for 2017’s Despicable Me 3.

Also for Universal, Jurassic World Dominion added another estimated $15.9m worldwide, pushing the total to $942.6m. The numbers were boosted by the film’s chart-topping new release in Japan, grossing $10.2m.

Universal/Blumhouse’s The Black Phone added an estimated $6.7m, pushing the global total to $141.2m. The film has overtaken Scream ($140.0m) to become the fourth-biggest horror film of the pandemic era, behind A Quiet Place Part II ($297.4m), The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It ($206.4m) and Morbius ($163.9m). Universal’s sci-fi/horror Nope, from Jordan Peele, has already reached an estimated $80.6m in North America after 10 days, and will challenge this league table when it hits international markets.

Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Love And Thunder posted its strongest holds to date, declining an estimated 42% in its fourth weekend in North America, and 39% in international markets. Disney reports that only three Marvel Cinematic Universe titles have posted gentler declines in their fourth weekend in international markets.

The estimated $33.9m weekend global box office takes the total to $662.4m – behind Minions: The Rise Of Gru as the sixth biggest film of the year so far.

Love And Thunder has yet to release in China and Russia – and if those territories are stripped out of totals, this fourth Thor film is now the biggest worldwide among the franchise quartet.

However, including China and Russia, 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok remains at the front of the pack with $854m.

A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once passed a box office milestone at the weekend – crossing the $100m barrier. It’s the first A24 film to achieve this feat, and is ahead of Hereditary ($80.2m) as the company’s biggest ever film at the global box office.

North America has delivered $68.9m, and international territories $31.1m. The latter are led by UK/Ireland with $6.2m and Australia with $4.5m. See Americas editor Jeremy Kay’s report here.

The release of historical action film Hansan: Rising Dragon, a prequel to 2014’s The Admiral: Roaring Currents, has given the South Korean box office a boost. Kim Han-min’s film celebrates the 1592 battle of Hansan Island, in which the Korean navy destroyed roughly 100 Japanese ships.

Hansan: Rising Dragon debuted with $14.8m according to Comscore figures (see worldwide chart above). The numbers helped lift South Korean box office to its second-best box office weekend so far this year.

International haul stands at $31.1m.

All three territories, plus Italy and Spain, down on UK figures.

Festival favourites ‘Fire Of Love’, ‘Hit The Road’ also out.

Pamela Kaufman promoted to top job following abrupt departure of Raffaele Annecchino.

Bookmark this page for all the latest festival date changes.

Upcoming Apple docuseries to feature pioneers Gloria Steinem, Megan Thee Stallion, Jane Goodall, Amy Schumer.

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