The China release of Sony/Constantin’s Resident Evil propelled the move not only to the top of the global weekend box office in its fourth frame with an overall $62.7M WW , but the pic also became Zach Cregger’s highest grossing movie ever (as we first told) with $320.2M. That beats the previous high of his Oscar winning Weapons ($270M WW) last year.
China delivered $40.6M, which repped the best opening for a horror film in the last two years.
Resident Evil invaded its native country of Japan with a $3.6M opening. Other top per performing market cumes are UK $17.0M, Mexico $11.8M, Australia $8.5M, France $8.5M, Germany $7.3M, Spain $7.1M.
Overall international cume on Resident Evil is $181.7M on 38,150+ screens in 67 offshore markets.
And, wow, Universal/Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s Other Mommy with a $45.1M global opening from 51 territories with $27.5M domestic and $17.6M abroad.
Why wow? For a horror movie with a D+ CinemaScore and awful reviews (Uni held critics at bay) to over perform in a marketplace where many are precious about what they want to see, is quite commendable and this Rob Savage directed matriarch doppelgänger film only cost $19 net before global P&A. It just speaks to the continued staying power of genre. The weekend result is above M3GAN, Evil Dead Rise, The Black Phone, Smile, and Evil Dead Burn, in the same markets.
Stateside that’s Jessica Chastain’s sixth highest opening after It:Chapter Two ($91M), The Martian ($54.3M), Interstellar ($47.5M), X-Men Dark Phoenix ($32.8M) and Mama ($28.4M), which was another solo horror vehicle for here. You want to be technical about it, most of these films were ensembles, hence, Other Mommy can be argued as her second highest solo start stateside. Point is audiences clearly flocked to see Chastain in a spooky movie.
Other Mommy was No. 1 in UK/Ireland, Italy, Mexico, U.A.E., Other Middle East, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Argentina, Central America, Chile, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Norway, Singapore, Ecuador, Venezuela, Uruguay, Lebanon, Trinidad, Pakistan and Iceland. The spiritual scary nature of the film is the reason for its rally in Catholic countries, specifically Latin America.
Chastain counted $2.6M at 625 screens in UK & Ireland, surpassing the lifetime box office of The Boogeyman to become Rob Savage’s highest-grossing theatrical release. The weekend result is above Exorcist: Believer, Evil Dead Rise, Smile, Speak No Evil, and more than double Black Phone.
Italy was molto bene with $2.2M at 315 screens, repping 31% of the weekend’s marketshare. The weekend result is above Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Backrooms, Resident Evil, Scream 7, Exorcist: Believer, more than double Evil Dead Rise, M3GAN, and Insidious: Out of the Further, more than 5x Smile, and more than 8x The Black Phone.
Other Mommy counted $1.9M in Mexico for 24% of the weekend marketshare, a result that’s above Evil Dead Rise, M3GAN, and Smile.
Australia’s $1.1M for the Savage pic ranked No. 2 at 246 screens, with a healthy 14% market share. The weekend result is above Black Phone, Exorcist: Believer, Insidious: Out of the Further, Smile, and Evil Dead Rise.
Spain opened to a near $1M, ranking No. 2 behind local hit La Bola Negra. The weekend result is in line with Exorcist: Believer and Evil Dead Rise, above M3GAN, Black Phone, and Smile.
Brazil’s $800K at 726 screens ranked 3rd in the country behind Verity and local film Minha Amiga, with a healthy 13% share of business. The weekend result is in line with Black Phone, and above Smile.
U.A.E.’s great $700K No.1 was above Black Phone, Exorcist: Believer, Smile, Evil Dead Rise, and more than double M3GAN.
Saudi Arabia had an excellent start with $600K, above Evil Dead Burn, Exorcist: Believer, Evil Dead Rise, Insidious: Out of the Further, and M3GAN. Others Middle East was strong at $500K, taking the total for the Middle East region to an excellent $1.7M. Great starts in Southeast Asia with the region counting $2.2M from openings in Indonesia ($476K), Taiwan (+$424K), Malaysia ($416K), India ($327K), Philippines ($248K), and Vietnam ($217K). The opening result across the region is above M3GAN, more than double Black Phone and Smile.
Amazon/MGM Studio’s Verity is third with $30.1M second global weekend ($11.5M domestic, $18.6M int’l at 76 territories). Domestic of $53.9M and international B.O. of $60.1M put this Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett thriller at $114M WW.
If it’s a bomb here, then typically it’s a bomb in the rest of the world, and it was clear going into this weekend that Aaron Sorkin’s sequel to his Oscar winning written The Social Network, The Social Reckoning, would have no friends with a $9M WW opening ($5.5M stateside, $3.5M overseas which is lower than the $6M hoped for ala the start of Lionsgate’s Bombshell in like-for-likes). The Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White movie was booked in 29 foreign territories on 4,100 screens. Why did it tank? The movie isn’t prescient enough in its recap of the Jan. 6 riots and why Facebook is bad for teens. Everyone nowadays wants to know if A.I. will kill them in a decade, which gives Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming Artificial more of a pulse.