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INTERNATIONAL NUMBERS: More Important Than Domestic?


As we discussed yesterday, first a couple of bar bets.  Which film grossed more worldwide: Megamind or The King’s Speech?  The answer is King’s Speech.  Although Megamind grossed more domestically ($148 million to $132 million), the international audience preferred King’s Speech ($226 million to $171 million), giving the Best Picture winner a $40 million edge worldwide.  Alas, Little Fockers is the right answer when paired against The Black Swan, although few people would probably place Swan in the top 10 of all movies released in the fourth quarter of 2010. 

The sheer size of the international audience is amazing.  While the 35 films released between October and December last year grossed $2.8 billion domestically, the same films pulled in $3.9 billion outside North America (and with generally more favorable distribution cuts than are the norm in America). 

Films toward the top of the ranking often have international grosses twice or even three times the size of the domestic haul.  Even movies like The Tourist or Gulliver’s Travels, which would be considered stinkers here, did enough business overseas to make them players.  In fact, Gulliver’s Travels vaulted 10 spots on the ranking list when international box office is factored in (from #22 domestic to #12 worldwide).  The Tourist had a similar jump (nine places), and Chronicles of Narnia 3 jumped seven places in the rankings.

OCT-DEC 2010 FILM GROSSES   World   Domes-  Over-   Int’l
  (millions)                 wide    tic     seas  Impact

 1  Harry Potter 7           952     295     657    
 2  Tangled                  558     198     361
 3  Chronicles of Narnia 3   405     104     301     +7**
 4  TRON: Legacy             397     172     226     -1
 5  King's Speech            359     132     226     +2
 6  Megamind                 319     148     171
 7  Little Fockers           309     148     160     -2
 8  Black Swan               281     106     175     +1
 9  The Tourist              268      68     200     +9**
10  True Grit                241     170      72     -6**

11  The Social Network       225      97     128     +2
12  Gulliver's Travels       216      43     173    +10**
13  Due Date                 212     100     111     -2
14  Yogi Bear                200      99     100     -2
15  Red                      186      90      96
16  Paranormal Activity 2    177      85      92
17  Jackass 3-D              170     117      53     -9**
18  Unstoppable              168      81      86     -1
19  Saw 3D                   136      46      90     +2
20  The Fighter              125      93      32     -6**

21  Life As We Know It       106      53      52     -1
22  Hereafter                104      33      71     +3**
23  Love and Other Drugs      96      32      64     +3**
24  Burlesque                 89      39      50     -1
25  Skyline                   67      21      46     +5**
26  Secretariat               60      60       1     -7**
27  The Next Three Days       58      21      37     +4**
28  Morning Glory             53      31      22     -1
29  How Do You Know           48      30      17     -1
30  For Colored Girls         38      38       0     -6**

31  Faster                    32      23       8     -2
32  Case 39                   28      13      15     +1
33  Let Me In                 24      12      12     +1
34  My Soul to Take           21      15       6     -2
35  The Warrior's Way         11       6       5

TOTAL Oct-Dec Films         6737    2820    3916

How to read: The #3 ranked movie, Chronicles of Narnia 3, grossed $405 million worldwide, with $104 million domestic and $304 million overseas.  The +7** indicates the strong international performance moved the film’s ranking seven places from #10 domestic-only to #3 worldwide.  The two asterisks indicate a particularly significant international impact on box office numbers.


On the flip side, Jackass 3-D was almost repellent to international filmgoers.  Comedy often does not export well, especially one without international stars and one with such a, shall we say, uniquely American take.  Further, The Fighter and Secretariat did not travel well at all (sports films hardly ever do).  Similarly, African-American films are rarely even released outside the home market (for example, For Colored Girls above). 

To summarize a few general rules of thumb, most films can match their domestic gross internationally, true hits can double or triple their domestic numbers, and truly narrow films have international numbers that approach zero.

With worldwide gross being so important, we will track the overseas performance of current films each week.  Please note there is a lag time in reporting the overseas box office numbers – the important thing to watch is how a given film is moving up or down the worldwide rankings.  The first look at the worldwide performance of current films in release will appear tomorrow and every Tuesday.

Check back later today for weekend box office results and an update on year-to-date box office performance. 

--Mitch Metcalf

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