Monday, September 14 Update: Warner Bros. updates today that Sunday’s initial estimates came in on target with Tenet having earned $30.5 million from 48 overseas markets over the weekend. That brings the running international total to $178.0 million, pushing the global haul to $207.2 million through Sunday.
No domestic update for the weekend has been provided yet, but we’ll update this story when and if one is provided by the studio.
Sunday, September 13: Warner Bros. reports this morning that Tenet has crossed the $200 million global box office threshold.
The Christopher Nolan epic is adding an estimated $37.3 million worldwide this weekend across 50 markets, including the United States and Canada. Internationally, the film now stands at $177.5 million, while the domestic market will be at an estimated $29.5 million through Sunday.
In all, the studio estimates Tenet stands at $207 million globally through the end of this weekend.
Tenet: Domestic Sophomore Frame
The studio reports Nolan’s latest added $6.7 million between Friday and Sunday in North America, the second highest global market take by the film this weekend. Daily breakdowns remain unavailable, but that marks a soft 29 percent drop from last weekend — a number also cited directly by Warner Bros.
With that information now in play, we can deduce that Tenet’s domestic frame one week ago tallied around $9.44 million between Friday and Sunday.
Tenet: Overseas Holds and Domestic Highlights
Tenet‘s top market remains China, where the film added $10.2 million in its second frame this weekend. The pic faced stiff competition from Mulan‘s release this weekend, as well as the continued appeal of the country’s blockbuster hit The Eight Hundred. To date, Tenet has earned $50.8 million in the Middle Kingdom.
Warner notes that the film is posting great staying power in key markets like Russia, where this weekend saw a mere 23 percent decline. Meanwhile, Hong Kong opened to $1.9 million this weekend.
Tenet will next add Mexico and Japan on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Israel, Romania, and Uruguay also open this week.
Domestically, Tenet added close to 100 locations this weekend, bringing the total North American footprint to 2,910. Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco remain closed.
Tenet’s top five performing locations are the AMC Orange, Regal Irvine Spectrum, AMC Tysons Corner McLean, VA, Paramount Drive-In Los Angeles, and AMC Pembroke Lakes, Ft. Lauderdale.
Tenet’s top ten DMA markets are Los Angeles (Orange County), Dallas, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Toronto, Greater New York (New Jersey and Connecticut), Houston, Atlanta, and San Diego.
Warner Bros. specifically notes that a “large portion” of the film’s gross is being generated by premium format screens like IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and others.
An estimated 74 percent of the domestic market is now open, while major markets like New York and Los Angeles remain closed.
IMAX Remains Robust for Tenet
At IMAX specifically, the film has reached $23 million in global ticket sales, adding $4.2 million from 1,033 screens this weekend. International accounted for $3.5 million of that figure (from 743 screens).
Among the many strong holdovers, Russia (down 8 percent), Finland and Sweden (down 5 percent each), and Singapore (down 1 percent) impressed the most.
Denmark, Germany, Italy, and South Korea also declined less than 30 percent each at IMAX locations compared to last weekend. Internationally, IMAX has grossed $19.2 million for the film, representing 11 percent of Tenet’s overall box office total so far.
In North America, the Nolan pic eased 34 percent from last weekend’s three-day haul in IMAX locations despite the inflated Sunday earnings last week. Tenet is eyeing an estimated $725K from 290 IMAX screens in the U.S. and Canada this weekend.
Domestically, that gives the film a $3.8 million total from IMAX (13 percent of overall market box office).
Tenet will add 54 IMAX screens globally next week.
Tenet: Weekend Grosses by Market
| Territory | WK # | WE BO | WE BO | Drop % | Screens | Cume | Cume | WE Rank | |
| (LC) | (USD) | (LC) | (USD) | ||||||
|
2 | CNY 69.4m | $10.2m | -0.66 | 7710 | CNY 347.9m | $50.8m | 3 | |
| Domestic (U.S./Canada) | 2 | $6.7m | $6.7m | -0.29 | 2,910 (locations) | $29.5m | $29.5m | 1 | |
| Russia | 2 | RBL 155.0m | $2.0m | -0.23 | 2130 | RBL 427.9m | $5.73m | 1 | |
| Hong Kong | 1 | HK$ 14.5m | $1.9m | 160 | HK$ 14.5m | $1.9m | 1 | ||
| Germany | 3 | €1.5m | $1.80m | -0.36 | 1950 | €9.6m | $11.4m | 1 | |
| France | 3 | €1.5m | $1.78m | -0.38 | 964 | €11.1m | $13.2m | 1 |
Tenet: Global Cumes by Market
| Territory | Cume | Cume | |
| LC | USD | ||
|
CNY 347.9m | $50.8m | |
| Domestic (U.S./Canada) | $29.5m | $29.5m | |
| United Kingdom | £12.5m | $16.4m | |
| France | €11.1m | $13.2m | |
| Germany | €9.6m | $11.4m | |
| Korea | Won 12.3b | $10.3m | |
| Taiwan | NT$ 251.6m | $8.6m | |
| Spain | €5.4m | $6.4m | |
| Italy | €4.9m | $5.79m | |
| Russia | RBL 427.9m | $5.73m | |
| Australia | A$7.8m | $5.68m | |
| Holland | €4.6m | $5.4m | |
| Saudi Arabia | SAR 15.8m | $4.2m |
Mulan Debuts in China
The other big story in the worldwide marketplace was Mulan’s release in China. The film bowed to an estimated $23.2 million in the Middle Kingdom, taking first place for the weekend. While the debut is a bit below pre-release expectations, Disney notes that the opening figure is on par with the openings of Cinderella and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, while topping Aladdin by 23 percent.
In China, an estimated 91 percent of theaters are currently open with 50 percent seating capacity limits.
The overall international weekend for Disney’s live-action remake is an estimated $29.1 million, lifting the film’s haul to $37.6 million.
Mulan also debuted in Russia this weekend with a $1.8 million four-day frame, ranking second place. An estimated 65 to 70 percent of cinemas are open in the country, also limited to 50 percent seating restrictions.
Meanwhile, Mulan debuted at first place in Ukraine, Hungary, and South Africa this weekend alongside a second-place start in Poland. The film will release in Korea and Hong Kong next week.
At IMAX, the Disney film earned $1.75 million from 636 screens in China’s debut.
Mulan’s Key Market Cumes
| Territories | GBO |
| China | $23.2M |
| Middle East | $4.0M |
| Thailand | $2.3M |
| Taiwan | $1.9M |
| Russia | $1.8M |
| Singapore | $1.5M |
| Malaysia | $1.1M |
The New Mutants Posts Strong Holds
In its third weekend of domestic play, The New Mutants is down an estimated 33 percent from last weekend, coming in at $2.05 million this weekend from 2,704 locations. That includes a $600K Friday, $925K Saturday, and projected $525K Sunday. Losing 50 locations this weekend, the film’s per-theater-average was down even less at 31 percent.
New Mutants has earned an estimated $15.3 million in North America through Sunday.
Overseas, Mutants added $3.8 million this weekend for an overall $5.9 million global frame. New markets included Austria, Germany, Korea, the Middle East, Slovokia, Trinidad, and Turkey.
The film’s global total stands at $29.3 million through Sunday.
Unhinged Showing Legs
Solstice Studios is also reporting a strong post-holiday holdover for the road-rage thriller Unhinged. The picture will take in an estimated $1.5 million weekend from 2,365 locations, representing a soft drop of just 17 percent from last week. The $634 per-theater average was down just 16 percent.
With some major markets still closed and drive-ins able to accommodate larger audiences, the studio continues to highlight the film’s top performing locations. Two Toronto locations led the way, followed by the Vineland 4 in Los Angeles. Dallas-Ft. Worth represents the top market share with 4.2 percent, followed by Los Angeles (4.1 percent), Phoenix (3.5 percent), and Toronto and Philadelphia (3.1 percent each).
The domestic total will be an estimated $13.83 million through Sunday. Solstice points to the opening of Orange County, California and Palm Beach County, Florida as healthy markets this weekend, while looking ahead to the opening of Miami-Dade and Broward counties in Florida during the coming week.
The Broken Hearts Gallery Kicks Off Domestic Run
Sony / TriStar’s romantic comedy is looking at an estimated $1.125 million weekend debut from 2,204 locations in North America, including $422K on Friday, $433K on Saturday, and a projected $270K on Sunday.
The rom-com was a bit shy of our own pre-release forecasts, but it remains crucial to note that models are continuously volatile in a semi-operational market, while all films in theaters right now are playing the long game. Sony cautiously did not provide any expectations for performance heading into the weekend.
Share this post