‘Equalizer 3’ Clocks Franchise-Best WW Debut; ‘Oppenheimer’ Reaches $851M Global With Strong China Start, ‘Barbie’ Dances To $1.38B+ – International Box Office
03.09.2023 - 18:49
/ deadline.com
Though Labor Day is upon us domestically — and its somewhat equivalents in many overseas markets to mark the end of summer — the hits keep coming as holds this session were strong on the season’s leaders while a new entry surprised. To wit, and starting with the latter: Sony/Escape Artists’ The Equalizer 3 blazed to a $60.6M global start this weekend, to clock the franchise’s best opening ever. Of that, the $26.1M debut in 49 international box office markets was also a new record bow for the Denzel Washington-led series.
The offshore start is 19% ahead of the previous installment and 29% ahead of the original in like-for-like markets at current exchange rates. And, there’s plenty of releases still to come including Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Korea in October.
Through this initial suite, the Top 5 markets are the UK ($3.5M), France ($2.8M), Germany ($2.4M), Spain ($1.7M) and Saudi Arabia ($1.6M).
In holdovers, and as we reported on Saturday, Universal’s Oppenheimer has crossed $850M global, now at an estimated $851.3M through Sunday. This makes the Christopher Nolan juggernaut his 3rd biggest title ever worldwide, surpassing Inception.
The 7th overseas frame was good for $49.7M (-32%) in 83 markets to bring the offshore cume to $542.7M, which tops Interstellar to make Oppenheimer the No. 3 Nolan title of all time internationally just behind Dark Knight Rises and Inception. The Cillian Murphy-led epic is Nolan’s biggest movie overseas when restated to today’s dollars.
New this session was China where Nolan has a big fanbase — and where he was the first major Hollywood filmmaker to do a tour since the pandemic. Coming off of a terrific 9.5 Maoyan audience score, the five-day opening cume is $30.3M, ranking a strong No. 1