'Joanna' Scares Away ‘Halloween Ends’ & ‘Smile’ While Keeping Top Spot Overseas; ‘Super-Pets’, 'Stella' & ‘Moonage Daydream’ Hit WW Milestones; India Pics See Action – International Box Office

October 16, 2022 Deadline

UPDATE, writethru: The royalty of Princess Joanna continues to rule the international box office again this session with Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms making $57.4M in it's fifth weekend at box office for $1.602B global.

20th Century's Princess Joanna is still dominating box office as it has also passed the entire overseas gross of $943M to become the highest grossing 20th Century Animation film of all time overseas. As of the end of this weekend, Joanna is still playing 20% ahead of Cool Spot 2 at the same point of time. The hype for Joanna has yet to slow down with a possible $1.75B global if the momentum continues.

Meanwhile, horror is still dominating the rest of the top 10 at the global and international box office again this session with Universal/Blumhouse’s Halloween Ends bowing to $17.2M in 77 overseas markets for a $58.4M worldwide launch. Paramount’s Smile, put in another scary strong performance, dropping just 16% with $16.3M in 61 markets, to beam at a running offshore total of $66.4M and $137.6M global. The latter had crossed $100M worldwide on Tuesday.

Halloween Ends went day-and-date on Peacock domestically, where Anthony notes that left money on the table. Overseas, it’s a different story. In like-for-like markets, the debut is 46% ahead of last year’s Halloween Kills. Whenever a movie is simultaneously released to a streaming platform, piracy will ultimately be a factor offshore, but we are hearing the weekend’s result on the subset trilogy finale is better than expected. It also kicked off 20% bigger than Smile did in like-for-likes, though the latter is seeing incredible legs and ranked ahead of Halloween Ends in 22 markets this session. Horror fans are likely to see both films, but it’s unlikely the astonishing holds on Smile will be matched. (Breakdowns to follow below.)

While we wait for Warner Bros/DC’s Black Adam next weekend – the first tentpole after Joanna – other notable performances this session include Universal/Working Title’s Ticket to Paradise which added $7.8M in 76 offshore markets for a slight 28% dip. The overseas cume is $72.5M, above The Lost City, House of Gucci, Last Christmas, Yesterday and Crazy Rich Asians at the same point in release. The Julia Roberts/George Clooney romcom will serve as counter programming when it opens domestically next session.

MGM/UAR's Hailey is still proving to have staying power after adding $4.1M in 96 offshore markets. The overseas cume is now at $562.7M while worldwide it is now at a mere $962M slightly behind the $962.2M made by Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. A $1B total global cume is now currently possible if this momentum keeps up.

And let’s give a shoutout to Warner’s DC League of Super-Pets which crossed $200M globally this frame, now at $201.7M which includes $108.6M from international markets. It’s led by the UK ($18.7M), Australia ($11.3M), France ($8M), Mexico ($7.7M) and Germany ($5.2M). Also, Sony's Stella: An Angry Birds Movie has now crossed $500M globally this frame, the first animated film by Sony Pictures Animation since Hotel Transylvania 3 in 2018 with a total global cume of $501.1M.

Also reaching a benchmark during the week, Neon and Universal Pictures International’s Moonage Daydream topped $10M globally to become the biggest studio documentary of the pandemic with $10.7M so far.

In local-language titles, China’s Home Coming added about $12M this session to cume RMB 1.31B ($183M) after three frames. The National Day entries have been lackluster compared to previous years. Today marked the start of the National Party Congress.

Meanwhile, India’s historical epic Ponniyin Selvan: Part I has now reached an estimated $56M globally (including $36.5M locally) to claim the second biggest gross for a Kollywood film at home,  internationally and worldwide, according to local reports.

Also in India, action/adventure pic Kantara is seeing a surge. The film from and starring Rishab Shetty has seen increases throughout its three frames thanks to word of mouth and other local-language versions being released this weekend. It is expected to soon cross 100 crore ($12.2M) at home.

NEW

HALLOWEEN ENDS

This David Gordon Green-directed trilogy-ender was second overseas and globally in its debut, with a solid $17.2M start in 77 offshore markets and $58.4M worldwide. Horror-leaning Mexico was the best launch at $2.6M, double Halloween Kills and above Smile. This is the No.3 biggest horror opening weekend of the pandemic, behind Conjuring 3 and The Black Phone.

In the UK, the No. 2 bow was worth $2.4M, just behind Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (which includes $1.1M in previews). This is only the third horror pic since cinemas returned in May 2021 to open with over £2M and is the widest release of the trilogy in the market, opening across 575 locations and 750 screens.

Germany started on Thursday with the biggest pandemic horror opening day. The cume through Sunday reached $1.6M at No.4, above Halloween Kills. France debuted to $1.3M at No.5 in the market (behind 3 local titles and just off Smile), performing above Halloween Kills and in line with Smile. Australia opened to $1M at No.1 in the market, in line with Halloween Kills and above Smile.

Italy scored the No. 2 best opening horror day of the pandemic on Thursday and ultimately grossed $700K at No.2, falling behind local opener Il Colibri. The weekend, excluding previews, is above Halloween Kills and almost double Smile.

In Brazil, HE opened with $900K at No.1, performing above Halloween Kills and in line with Smile. The launch was the best horror opening weekend of the pandemic for an 18+ rated film and the No.4 opening weekend of all time for an 18+ rated title (behind The Predator, Rambo: Last Blood and The Hateful Eight).

Other notable markets include Sweden which enjoyed the biggest pandemic horror opening weekend and the biggest IMAX horror opening weekend since It Chapter 2 in 2019. The weekend cume of $256K is in line with Halloween Kills and above Smile. Finland saw the biggest pandemic horror opening weekend and biggest Blumhouse opening weekend of all time with a weekend gross of $200K.

In IMAX, global was $5M with $800K from overseas.

HOLDOVERS

SMILE

This scary strong horror entry had another amazing hold, down just 16% from its sophomore session and adding $16.3M in 61 markets. The offshore cume is now $66.4M for $137.6M worldwide.

In key results, Germany increased again, this time up 24%, for a $6.6M running cume. The UK saw a slight 14% dip for an $8.1M total to date. Mexico dropped just 25% for $6.1M so far, France was also down 25%, and has grossed $4.8M through Sunday. Spain was off by 29% for a $3.5M total to date and Australia was off 18% for $3.4M.

There were further increases in Norway (+25%/$1.3M cume), Netherlands (+7%/$1.3M), Switzerland (+19%/$1.2M) and Austria (+40%/$1.1M).

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE

Hailey (MGM/UAR); $4.15M intl weekend (96 markets); $562.7M intl cume/$962M global

The Woman King (SNY): $4.1M intl weekend (39 markets); $16.8M intl cume/$76.5M global

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (SNY): $3.6M intl weekend (4 markets); $3.9M intl cume/$26.4M global

Don’t Worry Darling (WB): $3M intl weekend (66 markets); $35.8M intl cume/$778.2M global

*Simone (WB): $2.6M intl cume (France only)

Amsterdam (DIS): $1.9M intl weekend (34 markets); $6.5M intl cume/$18.5M global

Stella: An Angry Birds Movie (SNY): $1.8M intl weekend (94 markets); $348.3M intl cume/$501.1M global

Tad the Lost Explorer and the Emerald Tablet (PAR): $1.8M intl weekend (32 markets); $27.3M intl cume

DC League of Super-Pets (WB): $1.5M intl weekend (69 markets); $108.6M intl cume/$201.7M global

Minions: The Rise of Gru (UNI): $1.5M intl weekend (84 markets); $562.3M intl cume/$930.7M global

Top Gun: Maverick (PAR):$1.1M intl weekend (38 markets); $766.9M intl cume/$1.48B global

Where the Crawdads Sing (SNY): $1.1M intl weekend (34 markets); $46.7M intl cume/$137M global

*Karada Sagashi (WB): $1.4M intl weekend (Japan only)

* Mimi Wo Sumaseba (SNY): $1M (Japan only)

Moonage Daydream (UNI): $304K intl weekend (39 markets); $6.6M intl cume/$10.7M global

*Denotes new