The Wolverine - Box Office Performance

[jo]

It's less than a $ 2 million difference ( in foreign receipts)but BoxOffice.com is reporting a total receipts of almost $ 360 million now ( if I recall right, Deadline Hollywood figures were similar to Box Offic.com) compared to Box Office Mojo --

www.boxoffice.com/latest-news/2013-09-01-global-one-direction-sings-its-way-to-145m-debut

The Wolverine is slashing its way toward the $250 million overseas mark. It will need a solid performance from Japan, where the film is set, to take its current $232 million overseas total to the new milestone. The Wolverine opens in Japan on September 13. The film has grossed $359.8 million worldwide.

Jo

[mamaleh]

Just saw a Chinese promo Hugh did for the movie, so it looks like it will open in China after all. That should ratchet up the box office a bit!

Ellen

[jo]

Yup -- you might have missed this ad/poster ( Publicity and Promotion thread) -- but Wolverine says he is due to grace the screens in China on October 17!




This weekend, Wolverine is speaking Japanese


Jo

[jo]

This is the promo video for the Chinese release --

v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjA1MTM4NDEy.html


The emphasis is mostly on the action aspects!


Jo

[jo]

I have just been checking the foreign receipts, per Box Office Mojo, for XMEN films that were released in China --

XMEN -- no release
XMEN-2 -- $ 1.1 million
XMEN Last Stand -- $ 2.7 million
XMEN Origins: Wolverine -- no data available /supposedly released in May 2009
XMEN First Class -- no release?


I wonder why no data was available for Origins ( there was a release date of May 2009) - did the release happen?

First Class had no release date nor figures.


I wonder what we can expect for THE WOLVERINE --

*How much promotion is being done for that market?
*Will Hugh come over for any premiere? He will be in LA for "One-Night-Only" on October 12 and the release date in China is October 17.
*Will the anti-Japanese sentiments ( past and current relations) affect the movie reception in China?
*I understand that the recent very successful releases in China ( IronMan3, Fast and Furious, Pacific Rim) had either a local distribution partner and/or excessive promotion. Skyfall ( $ 59 million in China) was supposedly been heavily edited. Also, have release rules been liberalized or is there still significant editing? The recent disagreement on additional tax levies has been resolved favorably for the studio/film producers.

Hard to say what the China reception will be for this movie, given the previous experiences for the other XMEN movies.

Jo

[jo]

Update ( estimated) as of September 15, 2013, per Box Office Mojo --

Total Lifetime Grosses

Domestic: $130,226,000 (35.5%)

Foreign: $236,367,000 (64.5%)

Worldwide: $366,593,000

There is a usual delay in reporting updated foreign receipts on a per country basis, but if the slight increase over the previous week's foreign totals is an indication, it looks like the Opening Weekend figures for Japan may be very disappointing. In another forum, there was an estimate that it could only amount to approx $ 2.5 million??

In comparison, Origins opened with $ 1.9 million and ended with $ 9.3 million for its total Japan run.

On the other hand, The Last Samurai opened with $ 8.4 million and ended its Japan run with $ 119.3 million. IronMan3 opened in Japan with $ 4.2 million and registered total receipts at the end of its run at $ 25.2 million


Maybe Japanese audiences ( supposedly skewing older) prefer stories with a historical flavor rather than just superhero movies?

We'll see...


Jo

[jo]

As of Wednesday, October 2, THE WOLVERINE has now exceeded the worldwide receipts of XMEN ORIGINS:WOLVERINE.

Total Lifetime Grosses


Domestic: $131,383,235 (35.2%)

Foreign: $241,694,000 (64.8%)

Worldwide: $373,077,235

That puts the movie as the third highest grossing movie in the XMEN franchise - ahead of Origins, First Class, and XMEN ( the first movie).

Will it exceed XMEN 2- that depends on how strong it goes in China.


Jo

[birchie]

I have a feeling that Days of Future Past is going to out perform all of them if it lives up to what everyone, including Hugh, is saying about it. So many interviews have been calling it epic, the best one yet etc...hope it lives up to the hype!
Sue

[jo]

Unfortunately, with its supposed $ 250 million production budget ( excl marketing costs), it will have to earn at least $ 500 million to cover production costs and, according to the new conventional wisdom, at least 2.5 times if it were to cover marketing costs, or at least $ 625 million...

But fingers crossed that it gets to the billion dollar mark!

*Excellent and exciting cast!
*Two generations of XMEN in the storyline
*Wolverine among, if not the, most important characters
*Opening on Memorial weekend!

Jo

[jo]

Update from BoxOfficeMojo as of October 20, inclusive of China results starting October 17 -

Total Lifetime Grosses

Domestic: $132,079,000 (33.9%)

Foreign: $257,200,000 (66.1%)

Worldwide: $389,279,000

And the report from Deadline Hollywood --

www.deadline.com/2013/10/twentieth-century-fox-international-hits-2b/

Twentieth Century Fox International films set another milestone this weekend for what it boasted was an unprecedented 5 straight years and 7 overall – both industry records. Its 2013 overseas theatrical grosses passed the $2 billion box office mark for an unprecedented 7 calendar years. This spotlights the studio’s leadership by Chairman Jim Gianopulos who has always specialized in the global marketplace. Meanwhile, The Wolverine landed in China earning $13.6M from 4,800 screens for a first place finish and an opening weekend 4X bigger than Thor and 3X bigger than Captain America. Its cume now stands at $258.8M international and $390.7M worldwide.

It looks like The Wolverine will cross the $ 400 million mark, and may even surpass the box office results for XMEN-2 ( at $ 407 million), which will put it at # 2 spot in the franchise's box office standing. Not bad for a smaller budget film and a solo/spinoff

[jo]

Very interesting insight from a mainland Chinese fan who posted on the SuperheroHype board --

Though received many criticisms from media and network.In fact Chinese audiences like 'The Wolverine' very much.Though many of them see through piracy.

Unlike many people think.Chinese people like this movie's romance storyline most. Tao Okamoto/Mariko Yashida is the main reason .Chinese people likes Tao Okamoto very much(though they don't know her before),They think she is very pretty.They also think Yukio is very cute.Maybe Fox can think about add these two girls into new X-men series

I wonder if Fox and Hugh considered this angle seriously? Maybe Hugh could have done the promotion with Tao Okamoto and Rila Fukushima?

Also, maybe because the movie opened fairly late in China, the pirated copies must have already proliferated. The poster mentioned that many saw it through pirated copies.


Jo

[jo]

An update on the box office performance of THE WOLVERINE in China --

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-box-office-wolverine-claws-649984

China Box Office: 'Wolverine' Claws Past 'Special ID' to Claim Top Spot

The strong $18.17 million opening in China for the Twentieth Century Fox franchise helped push the studio's global ticket sales past $2 billion for the year.

The Wolverine clawed its way to the top of the Chinese box office charts this week, taking $18.17 million (111.2 million yuan) in its first week despite bowing weeks after it originally premiered in Hong Kong and other overseas markets.


The China haul helped to push Twentieth Century Fox International's global ticket sales for 2013 past the $2 billion mark.


The movie opened in July in most other markets. Normally, a late release in China means viewers will have already accessed the film via pirate DVDs and illegal downloads, hurting ticket sales.

However, the movie's spectacular action scenes and strong performance by Hugh Jackman seem to have successfully lured the local fanboy audiences into China's cinemas. Jackman came to China for the premiere and made a big splash in the local press.

There were 2.96 million admissions for the film in the first week.


According to data from Beijing-based Entgroup, for the week of Oct. 14-20, Wolverine beat out Donnie Yen's Shenzhen-set cop movie Special ID, which took $10.9 million (66.52 million yuan), while Louis Leterrier's Now You See Me continued its respectable if unspectacular run, taking in another $7.95 million to bring its total to $17.91 million...

The initial reported figures were $ 13.6 million, vs the updated results of $ 18.2 million.

[jo]

Updated figures from BoxOfficeMojo --

Total Lifetime Grosses


Domestic: $132,244,119 (32.6%)

Foreign: $273,500,000 (67.4%)

Worldwide: $405,744,119

This is a little short of the worldwide figures for the series favorite XMEN-United ( 407.7 million), which could easily be surpassed next week, after at least another week in China ( $33 million so far). This would then put The Wolverine as the second most successful movie of the franchise.

With the movie, budgeted at $ 120 million, now having crossed over $ 400 million, some fans on SuperHeroHype are beginning to speculate on a Wolverine 3. Why not, they say - since there seems to be a proven worldwide fanbase and the comic books are still rich in other Wolverine stories?


Jo

[jo]

The Hollywood Reporter confirms the 11-day performance of THE WOLVERINE in China --

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-box-office-wolverine-wins-651412

China Box Office: 'The Wolverine' Wins Again, Hits $33 Million


"The Wolverine"

The Hugh Jackman-starring comic book film pulls in another $14.5 million to beat Donnie Yen's "Special ID" for two weeks running.

Late arrival on Chinese screens appears to have done no harm to The Wolverine, with the Japan-set comic book franchise taking $14.5 million in the week to Oct. 27 for a total of $33 million in 11 days.

The movie opened in July in most other markets, which normally gives the pirates in China plenty of time to flood the market with fakes DVDs and downloads, but the appeal of going to the theater to see the Hugh Jackman-starring movie is strong in the world's second biggest market.


There were 2.4 million admissions during the week for The Wolverine, data from Entgroup showed.

Data this month showed that China's box office take was $2.7 billion in the first nine months of 2013, a 35 percent hike on the same three quarters last year, with domestic movies racking up a powerful display in the period.

However, foreign movies proved strongest in Chinese theaters last week, as The Wolverine again contained the challenge of local favorite Donnie Yen's Shenzhen-set cop movie Special ID, which took $10 million during the week, and has clocked up nearly 2 million admissions in its 10-day run.

Arnold Schwarzenegger opened during the week in The Last Stand, taking $4.75 million in the first four days. Now You See Me notched up $3.47 million, while the French comedy Fly Me to the Moon (Un plan parfait) took $2.45 million during its first three days in the cinemas, a strong performance for a non-Hollywood films.

Tsui Hark's Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon is now just shy of the $100 million box office mark, taking $1.66 million to bring its cumulative total to $96.4 million.

Hope the movie reaches at least $ 50-60 million in its China run!

Jo

[jo]

The performance of The Wolverine at the worldwide box office must be good news to FOX, which has suffered a string of bad luck at the domestic front --

Exhibitor Relations‏@ercboxoffice18h
Fox has the dubious distinction of the 2 worst debuts in 2013 for a film in 3,000+ theaters: RUNNER RUNNER-$7.7M, THE COUNSELOR-$7.8M

Lately, there has been news of a major overhaul by Jim Gianopulos, Fox Films CEO/Chairman, of the marketing arm of FOX Films. The head of the marketing arm and another top marketing officer have been taken out of their positions. Tony Sella, the marketing exec who was at One Night Only is also no longer holding his job.

I wonder if Gianopulos, whose forte is distribution, will also be overhauling the unit that handles the choice of film projects? Maybe because of the worldwide success of The Wolverine ( which, at this point, must have already surpassed XMEN-United for second place in Fox's most successful franchise), Hugh Jackman's profile with the studio may have further strengthened. Will this hasten the greenlighting of GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH? Surely, the success of Les Miserables ( albeit by another studio) is another factor. And, maybe, his MPTF concert One Night Only has won him some brownie points, too

At any rate, Hugh and Mangold and Fox must be very proud of how The Wolverine ultimately turned out - a fan pleaser and a critic pleaser, too. Days of Future Past is coming next year but it has to do real big box office numbers just to break even, with a rumored production budget of $ 250 million!

Jo