GLOBAL BOX OFFICE REPORT: Spongebob, Unhinged Open in Canada; 2001 Harry Potter Title Tops Chinese Box Office

Courtesy of Solstice Studios

NORTH AMERICA

The domestic box office showed its first signs of life over the weekend with the Canadian release of Paramount’s The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie: Sponge on the Run and Solstice Studios’ Unhinged.

Spongebob’s latest big screen adventure grossed an estimated $900 thousand from 300 screens in Canada, achieving a $3,000 per-screen average (PSA). That PSA is roughly the equivalent of its predecessor’s fourth weekend in release, 2015’s The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. The current entry in the series, Sponge on the Run, was originally scheduled for domestic wide release on Memorial Day weekend. The Covid-19 pandemic shifted that date to August 7 before Paramount opted to launch the title on Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) in the United States.

Unhinged earned $582k across 299 Canadian screens for Solstice Studios, achieving a $1,946 per-screen average. The film will expand to approximately 2,300 to 2,500 screens in the U.S. and Canada on August 21, making it the first wide release of the Covid-19 era.

RLJE Films’ The Tax Collector grossed an estimated $203,722 from 138 screens in its second domestic weekend, claiming a per-screen average of $1,476 and a cumulative total of $634,145. The film is also available on Digital and VOD platforms, where it has already grossed over $5 million in its first week, according to its distributor.

OVERSEAS

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, a title from 2001, claimed the top spot at the Chinese box office with $13.6 million from 16,000 screens. Imax screenings contributed $2.1 million of that figure from 594 screens, representing about 17 percent of the weekend take. Interstellar, another Warner Bros. re-release, added $1.7 million from 3,800 screens in the market to reach a $16.1 million total in China.

Further down the chart in China, Sony’s Bad Boys for Life continued its theatrical run as the global box office champion after opening in the market with a $3.2 million haul. The action-comedy sequel has now grossed a total of $220.2 million overseas and $426.4 million worldwide.

STX is carrying on with its overseas expansion of the sci-fi title Greenland with $2.82 million from 1,063 locations for an overseas total of $4.55 million. Greenland claimed the top spot in nine new markets, including Taiwan ($1.01M, 62 locations), Singapore ($327k, 45 locations), Sweden ($135k, 80 locations), Norway ($104k, 120 locations), and Finland ($56K, 59 locations). 

France led holdover markets with a second place in its second frame, behind domestic comedy Les Blagues de Toto. Greenland grossed $920k from 527 French screens for a market total of $2.5 million. That puts Greenland ahead of pre-pandemic comps like Geostrom (+3%, $3.4M market cume), Angel Has Fallen (+24%, $3.8M market cume), London Has Fallen (+22%, $2.2M market cume), and Olympus Has Fallen (+31%, $2.6M market cume).

In Belgium, Greenland finished its third weekend in second place behind local animated title Big Foot, adding $77k from 55 locations for a $266k market total. Greenland expands to Russia, Ukraine, and the West Indies. It is currently scheduled to open in North America on September 25.

Elsewhere around the world, the tenth anniversary re-release of Inception opened on 2,850 screens across 37 markets with a $1.6 million haul. Imax grosses contributed $640k from 181 screens. Top markets include the UK ($263k, 359 screens), South Korea ($197k, 250 screens), Saudi Arabia ($186k, 15 screens), Japan ($137k, 119 screens), Taiwan ($128k, 47 screens), Germany ($81k, 364 screens), Russia ($68k, 223 screens), Australia ($59k, 147 screens), Spain ($54k, 253 screens), and Ukraine ($38k, 100 screens). The title expands to the United States this weekend.

Scoob! added $1 million from 2,129 screens across 17 markets, bringing its overseas total to $14.2 million. France is the title’s leading market with a $4.8 million cume, followed by the Netherlands ($2.3M), sPAIN ($1.9M), Poland ($1.3M), and Germany ($894k). The animated title was scheduled to open in North America on May 15 before being rescheduled and ultimately going to PVOD due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Domestic titles have kickstarted Spain’s box office in recent years, and 2020 is no exception. Padre No Hay Más Que Uno 2 registered its third weekend atop the Spanish box office with $1 million, down just 17 percent from its previous frame. The comedy sequel has now grossed a total of $8.4 million in the market, already ahead of the $7.6 million earned by its pre-pandemic predecessor at the same point in release. Padre No Hay Más Que Uno 2 is now Spain’s second highest-grossing title of the year.

Courtesy of Solstice Studios

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