International Top Five - Cars Captures the Checkered Flag
September 13, 2006
For the first time in 10 weeks we have a new winner atop the international box office with Cars finally overtaking Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to win the prize.
The Pixar powerhouse spent its first weekend on top of the international charts with $8.00 million on 3,704 screens in 31 markets for a total of $184.24 million.
Its biggest market was Germany where it topped the charts with $3.05 million on 814 screens; this was more than three times what its nearest competitor earned, but less than a quarter of what Finding Nemo opened with back in 2003.
The film only has two other openings of note, Greece and Turkey, and they both happen this weekend.
No new openings left Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in second place with $6.93 million on 4,180 screens in 41 markets for a total of $592.02 million internationally.
It also crossed the $1 billion milestone on the worldwide stage in just 63 days, a new record.
This weekend the film opens in Italy and that should push it past the $600 million market internationally as it is earning the widest release there ever.
It could even push the film back into first place, which at this point in its run is both amazing and commonplace.
Miami Vice struggled in its debut in Spain finishing second with $1.53 million on 291 screens and while it capture first place in Argentina, its opening of $129,000 on 46 was hardly reason to celebrate.
Spain was the only market where the film cracked $1 million, but the film came close in Japan ($986,000 on 291 screens), and Germany ($951,000 on 441) while overall it added $6.10 million on 2,791 screens in 42 markets to its international total of $73.93 million.
Monster House remained in fourth with $3.54 million on 2,781 screens in 44 markets for a total of $43.87 million.
The film's only openings of note were in South Africa at an estimated $200,000 on 40 screens and the Philippines at $150,000 on 50.
It opens in Australia this weekend and has a couple other major markets left to open in before its international run is over, but it is unlikely to surpass its domestic total.
X-Men: The Last Stand returned to the top five thanks to first place openings in both Japan and China.
In the former market it made $2.37 million on 565 screens, but that was a disappointing start compared to its predecessors and below the $5,000 per screen average that is the signal of strong legs to come.
In China, the film earned first place with $1.08 million on 627 screens, which is on par with this year's biggest hits.
Overall the film now has $210.82 million internationally and $445.15 million worldwide.
Filed under: International Box Office, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Cars, X-Men: The Last Stand, Monster House, Miami Vice