GLOBAL REPORT: ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ Off To Hot Start, ‘Furious 7’ Crosses $1 Billion Overseas; Becomes #1 Movie Of All-Time In China

As expected, Avengers: Age of Ultron was a global hit this weekend, racking up $201.2 million in just 55% of the international marketplace and opening at #1 in all 44 territories it premiered. The total is an estimated 44% ahead of the original Avengers film and 24% ahead of Iron Man 3 accounting for currency fluctuation. The top 5 markets were South Korea ($28.2 million), the UK and Ireland ($27.3 million), Russia ($16.2 million), Brazil ($13.1 million), and Australia ($13.1 million).

 

Ultron smashed box office records in Asia where it had the biggest opening weekend of all-time in Russia, Hong Kong ($6.4 million), and the Philippines ($7.7 million), and the second biggest opening weekend in South Korea, India ($7.7 million), Singapore ($3.6 million), and Vietnam. The sequel performed strongly in Europe as well, taking the highest opening weekend ever for a superhero movie in the UK/Ireland, Germany ($9.3 million), Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands.

 

Ultron also set new records on overseas IMAX screens, scoring $10.4 million on 175 IMAX screens to become the best-ever opening beating Interstellar’s $7.188 million. Highlights include Hong Kong which swept up $420K on 4 screens ($106K /screen), South Korea which took in $1.6 million on 15 screens ($106K /screen) and the Philippines which grossed $650k on 8 screens ($81K /screen).

 

More international markets will roll out Ultron next weekend including Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Croatia, Czech Rep, Greece, Lebanon, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Thailand, Trinidad, Panama, Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and Colombia, along with the highly anticipated North American opening. China will open on May 12th due to a local holiday next weekend and Japan will open on July 4.

 

Furious 7 became the third film in history to cross the $1 billion mark overseas this weekend after Avatar ($2.027 billion) and Titanic ($1.528 billion). Combined with an estimated $320.5 million domestic cume, Furious 7 is now the 5th highest grossing film in history with a global tally of $1.322 billion. Chinese moviegoers have helped this latest installment (an 8th was just announced for an April 2017 release) become the highest grossing film in its box office history, racing past Transformers: Age of Extinction’s $319 million this weekend for an estimated total of $323 million. China’s BO total has also outgunned the North American cume, not unheard of for films that flop domestically yet shine in China, but astonishing in the fact that Furious 7 was considered a runaway success in both countries.

 

Thanks to a $7.7 million opening in China, Home brought in $13.7 million this weekend, transporting its overseas cume to $147.1 million. The DreamWorks’ animation crossed $300 million globally. Other strong markets include France which earned $1.4 million ($3.4 million cume) and dropped only 4%, and the UK which scored an addition $1 million for $31.5 million cume.

 

Cinderella danced to $8.5M this weekend as it opened in its last international territory, Japan. The overseas cume now stands at $284.0 million and $474.646 million globally. The Disney fantasy opened at #1 in Japan, picking up $4.8 million and grossing the highest opening weekend in 2015 for a Western release.

 

Run All Night snapped up $3.3 million this weekend bringing the international cume to $33.7 million and the global haul to $59.94 million. Italy and Brazil will open on April 30 and Japan will open on May 16.