So last week I posed four
utterly brilliant and relevant questions:
Can Vox Lux do an I, Tonya for NEON?
PTA says no.
Will the audience care for the Oscar re-expansion of that came out in August? (The Wife)
Kinda? $200K isn't
bad. And it is more of a PR stunt than viable release strategy. Not sure how much more Sony could have hoped for. The increase of 20,875.2% is pretty fun though.
Is the general audience warming up to Lanthimos so that The Favorite can keep up its terrific PTAs even in another expansion?
Sort of. $15K PTA is nothing to sneer at, but I'm not sure just how
general an audience it can find. Should easily end up being Lanthimos top earner though.
Why did no one tell me that The Rider has been playing since April and is still in theatres?
No but really You absolute fuckers, why didn't you tell me?
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Indie film time:
Mary Queen of Scots - A good OW PTA, doesn't looked poised for a breakout though.
Vox Lux - A PTA that I would have said was fine if this wasn't Oscar season and this wasn't a big swing. Should probably manage to do ok-ish if NEON are good with its release schedule + promotion
Ben is Back - Ok PTA, don't see it doing huge numbers.
Anna and the Apocalypse - didn't collapse, which is pretty much what you could have hoped for, somehow Scottish Christmas zombie musical films are considered "niche"
Maria By Callas - Over a million! It's kinda weird contrasting this with The Great Buster, you'd think a film about one of the medium's all time greats that has a bunch of big contemporary names would do better than the one about an opera singer (even if that opera singer is the all time great). But then again
never underestimate the gays SPC does have a bigger platform than Cohen
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Assorted international numbers time (courtesy of Screendaily):
Bohemian Rhapsody soared past $400m thanks to a $29.2m session from 72 markets that propelled the running total to $423m and established the drama as the company's second best international performer of the year behind Deadpool 2.
The Freddie Mercury and Queen biopic continued to be in fine voice in South Korea as $5.5m resulted in a number two hold and pushed the tally to $54.3m after six weekends. Italy delivered $5.3m for $14m after two, Japan $4.5m for $38.9m after five, France $1.5m for $28.4m after six, Spain $1.4m for $21.3m after six, and Germany $1.3m for $21.1m after six. The UK produced $1.2m for $57.2m after seven, and Australia $1.2m for $25m after six.
Ralph Breaks The Internet added $18m from 30 material territories to propel the early haul to $117.3m and $258.2m worldwide. A strong start in Spain delivered $4.6m for the second biggest Disney Animation opening in history. The film held on to number one in the UK for the second consecutive weekend, where it has reached $9.4m. The lead market is China on $38.5m, followed by Mexico on $15.1m, then Russia on $12.1m.
Creed II grossed $5.2m from 31 for an early $23.2m, fired up by $2.1m in the UK for $8.9m, and $1.2m in Australia for $4.4m, both after two sessions. The next wave of key markets comes in early January.
Widows used $4.5m from 59 to climb to $26.9m. It opened in Germany in seventh place on $516,000, and Indonesia on $320,000 in fourth. France delivered the top hold on $781,000 for $2.4m after two weekends.
Mortal engines released? Where?
Fantasy adventure Mortal Engines ventured into its first 43 territories for a commendable $17.9m. The top market was Russia with a $4.1m number one bow, and next came South Korea on $1.6m for number five, Indonesia on $1.6m for number one, Taiwan on $1.1m or number two, and Australia on $964,00 for number four.