Warner Bros/DC’s movie “The Flash” opened in 78 overseas markets this past weekend and grossed $75M. The global opening of $139M did not meet the initial projections of $85M-$95M. General audiences did not rush out to see the movie and as we noted earlier, there was a question mark over how much the tabloid headlines surrounding star Ezra Miller had seeped into overseas awareness.
The initial audience turned out to be more fanboy and male-skewing. While the movie has an 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s tough to market a movie when you cannot travel the star, something that is key to generating buzz, particularly in offshore markets.
While there were No. 1s in 54 markets this weekend, the reaction was mixed. China had a great 9.3 score on Maoyan while France’s AlloCiné score is a not great 3 out of 5 stars and critics are low there at 2.5. Some UK reviews are on the low end as well.
Regional Grosses and Individual Markets
The Middle East came in at $3.7M as the Eid holiday looms. In Western Europe, the weather was a contributing factor. The Flash is tracking akin to origins stories Ant-Man and Shazam! there. Latin America, which is a big fan of DC movies, had a 50% share of the Top 5 films, tracking on par with the launch weekend of Wonder Woman.
China was always a swing, and ended up coming in at an estimated $13.8M, lower than hoped for despite a terrific 9.3 from audiences on Maoyan. The film was No. 1 for the frame, landing 32% ahead of the opening of “The Batman” and 21% above “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. It led Friday play but then dipped below “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” on that film’s sophomore Saturday and Sunday.
Mexico was next with $9.4M, taking the No. 1 slot and 56% market share of the Top 5 films. Opening weekend results are tracking ahead of “Black Adam” (+53%), “Shazam!” (+45%), “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” (+21%) and “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” and “Wonder Woman” (+4%).
The UK grossed $5.3M at No. 1 and 41% higher than last weekend’s “Rise of the Beasts”. Korea grossed $3.8M at No. 3, behind local juggernaut The Roundup: No Way Out (which is closing in on $70M) and Elemental, and roughly on par with “Black Adam” and “Shazam!”. Brazil is a big DC market and gave “The Flash” a No. 1 start at $3.5M, roughly on par with “Quantumania” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” as well as 23% ahead of “Rise of the Beasts”.
The other new studio release this session was Disney/Pixar’s “Elemental” which landed within the opening range with $15M from 17 material markets repping just 30% of the offshore footprint. Along with domestic, the global launch is $44.5M. Ahead of the weekend, “Elemental”, from director Peter Sohn, was looking at $12M on the low end and $17M on the high, with China again the swing factor.
In Korea, “Elemental” was the No. 2 non-local entry with $3.2M, ahead of “The Flash” as well as 39% over “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and 10% bigger than “The Secret Life of Pets 2”. Social scores are strong with CGV at 98%, that’s on par with “Zootopia”, “Soul” and “Inside Out”.
“Elemental” opened tops in both Argentina and Uruguay, ahead of “The Flash”. Both countries have holidays on Monday and Tuesday. The Top 5 openers are China, Korea, Australia ($1.1M), Argentina ($1M) and Philippines ($600K).
Disney this weekend crossed $3B globally, landing at $3.053B for the year so far.
In holdover news, Paramount/Skydance’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” added another $37.2M in 68 markets during its second weekend. The international cume is now $174.3M. Globally, “Rise of the Beasts” has a running cume of $278M.
Sony Animation’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is headed for its next milestone with $489.3M through Sunday globally. The international weekend snared $27.6M for a $209M cume to date in 60 markets. Japan opened this session with $2.8M to best the opening of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” by a staggering 82%. Korea releases this week.
Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” warbled up another $15.3M in 52 markets this frame, taking the international cume to $212.4M and global to $466M. The offshore drop this session was 50%. The Top 5 markets are the UK ($27.5M), Mexico ($19.7M), Brazil ($14.8M), Italy ($12.3M) and Australia ($11.