Refresh for latest…: A busy holdover weekend for wide studio releases was led by the trio of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part Two. And, in a soaring performance, Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar winner The Boy and the Heron swooped into China helping the market set a new Qingming holiday record. 

Meanwhile, Best Picture Oscar winner Oppenheimer, boosted by its release in Japan, has now become Christopher Nolan’s biggest movie ever at the international box office.

Before we dig into all of that, there was also fresh blood in some overseas areas with Disney/20th Century Studios’ The First Omen debuting to $9.1M from 43 markets (about 76% of the offshore landscape and notably not including France and Germany which go next weekend). This is about as expected. The global bow is $17.5M.

Latin America leans in on horror and the prequel performed best in Mexico where it opened No. 3 with $1.6M. Rounding out the Top 5 are Indonesia ($700K), UK ($700K), Korea ($600K) and Brazil ($600K).

Also, Universal began rollout in just 27 markets on Dev Patel’s directorial debut, Monkey Man. The action thriller reached $2.6M in early overseas play, with the UK the top start at $1M (comping above the first John Wick). The global bow is $12.7M. International markets will continue to be added over the next few weeks including France and Korea. 

Back to the behemoths, Warner Bros/Legendary’s Godzilla x Kong roared for another $59.3M in 69 overseas markets, seeing a 53% drop after Easter weekend’s very strong debut. The international cume is now $226M for $361.1M global through Sunday. Of the worldwide total, IMAX reps $34M.

In like-for-like offshore markets and using today’s exchange rates, the beasts are tracking 40% ahead of Godzilla, 23% higher than Meg 2: The Trench, 15% above both Dune: Part Two and M:I7, 9% over Godzilla vs Kong and roughly on par with Kong: Skull Island.

France and Germany were new this session with $2.9M and $2.7M, respectively. The latter was 90% bigger than the launch of Godzilla vs Kong.

GxK continues to rage in China, now with a $92.2M cume — bigger than the two-week box office of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Fast X in the market. GxK benefited from playing through the Qingming Festival (or Tomb Sweeping) holiday which, as noted, hit a record high (see more below).

Elsewhere, after the sophomore session, GxK has topped the full runs of GvK and Kong: Skull Island in Latin America.

The Top 5 markets to date are China ($92.2M), Mexico ($23.7M), UK ($11.2M), India ($10.2M) and Australia ($7.4M).

There are still nine markets to open including the Middle East and Japan.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 added another three markets this weekend as staggered rollout continues. The frame came in at $27.4M in a total 76 (-34% in the holdovers). This lifts the international cume to $244.4M which is well above KFP3 and How to Train Your Dragon 3 at the same point in release. Globally, the cume is now $410.4M.

Among the new markets was New Zealand at $761K including previews. With $736K in Taiwan, where some cinema closures and aftershocks from last week’s devastating earthquake deterred some family moviegoing, the film delivered the biggest opening day of the franchise and the biggest animation opening of 2024.

In China, KFP4 also benefited from the Qingming Festival holiday, seeing strong uplift on Thursday and Friday. With $42.7M to date, the movie has now surpassed the lifetimes of Frozen, Finding Dory, Sing, Toy Story 4, Moana and Minions: The Rise of Gru in the market. 

Mexico added $2M this weekend for a cume through Sunday of $31.8M, performing well above previous titles in the franchise and now having topped the full runs of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Hotel Transylvania 3, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Inside Out.

In the UK, there was strong midweek play during school holidays. The local cume is $16M, topping Ice Age 5 and Hotel Transylvania and remaining No. 1 in the market. 

Top 5 to date are China ($42.7M), Mexico ($31.8M), UK ($16M), Germany ($13.3M) and Italy ($10.3M). 

Markets still to come include Korea on April 10.

Warner Bros/Legendary’s Dune: Part Two added $11.2M in 73 offshore markets for another good 42% drop. The overseas cume is closing in on $400M with $395.8M through Sunday. Globally, the total is $660.7M to date. IMAX’s worldwide cume is $139.4M, of which $75.1M is from international (in France, Dune 2 is now the second biggest IMAX title ever, behind Avatar: The Way of Water).

Overall, the Top 5 international markets to date are China ($47.7M), UK ($46.3M), Germany ($37.6M), France ($36.4M) and Australia ($21.1M).

Universal’s Best Picture Oscar winner Oppenheimer, which released in Japan for the first time last weekend, has now become Christopher Nolan’s highest grossing film of all time internationally with $638.4M to date. The global total is now $968.3M.

Japan added $1.6M in its sophomore frame to total $5.5M to date. This is well above Interstellar, in line with Dunkirk and just off The Dark Knight Rises. It’s also ahead of Dune: Part 2 and double Dune at the same point in release. 

As we noted last weekend, the Japan release was delayed given sensitivity to the subject matter, however Oppenheimer was received with the biggest opening for a Best Picture Oscar winner since Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The IMAX local total is $1.6M.

Sony’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire trapped another $7.1M from 31 markets for an offshore cume of $49.3M. Global is $138.2M through Sunday. Still to release are France, Brazil, Italy, Korea and Saudi Arabia. 

Looking at China, total box office for the Thursday-Saturday holiday reached RMB 841.64M ($118.6M), according to local media. This is a record for the release window, coming in ahead of 2021. All play was led by The Boy and the Heron with about $54M for the period. The film’s full frame from Wednesday-Sunday was approximately $72M.

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