“The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” got off to a strong start this weekend, opening at No. 1 and topping the original in all three overseas markets in which it debuted this weekend.
The sequel, directed by
Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel and Bill Nighy return from the original “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” which cost $10 million to make and brought in $147 million worldwide in 2012, with $90 million coming from overseas. Richard Gere joins the cast.
It was good weekend overseas for Fox in general as “Kingsman: The Secret Service” continued to perform strongly and “Birdman” got a bump from its Best Picture Oscar victory.
“Fifty Shades of Grey” was the top film globally for the third consecutive week. adding another $36 million from abroad. It has brought in $338 million internationally to pass “Ted” as Universal Pictures’ highest-grossing R-rated film abroad ever, and will cross the $500 million mark at the worldwide box office this week.
“Big Hero 6” debuted in China with an estimated $14.8 million, the biggest opening ever for a Disney animation release there, ahead of the $14.1 million that “Frozen” managed last year. In Japan, it held strongly to remain the top animated release there for a ninth consecutive weekend.
“Focus,” the R-rated caper comedy starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie, brought in $12.2 million from 31 markets, or about 30 percent of its eventual rollout. It debuted at No. 1 in Russia with $3.2 million for Warner Bros.
“American Sniper” opened in Germany and posted the biggest debut for a Clint Eastwood movie ever with $3.4 million. Austria ($510,000) and Belgium ($517,000) were also best-ever debuts for the director. The Iraq War saga added $19.5 million from foreign markets this weekend, and is up to $139 million from overseas, and $441 million worldwide for Warner Bros.
“Kingsman,” the comic book adaptation starring Colin Firth as a super spy, brought in $25.8 million this weekend to up its foreign total to $124.6 million. It remained No. 1 in South Korea in its third week with $5.2 million and has taken in $24.2 million there. It also posted strong holds in France ($2.4 million) and Taiwan ($1.8 million). The worldwide total for the Matthew Vaughn-directed spy spoof is $210 million.
“Birdman” opened with a strong $1.6 million from 159 screens in France and took in $5.6 million overall this weekend to raise its foreign total to $46 million and its worldwide haul to $86 million.
Three Chinese films were still resonating in their second weekends. “From Vegas to Macau 2” ($22 million), “Wolf Totem” ($17 million) and “Dragon Blade” ($12.5 million) held the Nos. 7-9 spots on the global top ten chart thanks to their showings at the Chinese box office.