Shutter Island was the #2 movie at the international box office this past weekend, after runaway #1 Alice in Wonderland. Martin Scorsese's dark thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio (above) and Mark Ruffalo grossed an estimated $19.2 million in 43 markets. The film's total overseas take to date is $82 million, while the worldwide total is $190 million. For comparison's sake, the Oscar-winning The Departed (2006) grossed $289.8 million worldwide.
At #3, James Cameron's Avatar grossed $17 million at 4,000 screens in 69 markets. Japan was its biggest market this past weekend, with $3.1 million in revenues. The sci-fier's foreign box office total to date is $1.914 billion; worldwide total: $2.644 billion.
Matt Damon's Green Zone was #4, with $9.7 million at 1,562 screens in 14 markets. On average, that's better than what the Paul Greengrass-directed Iraq War thriller did domestically (at least in part thanks to a still weak US dollar), but Green Zone is hardly what you'd call an international blockbuster. Universal and partner Relativity Pictures will have trouble recovering their $100 million investment, not to mention distribution and advertising costs.
The Robert Pattinson vehicle Remember Me, a disappointment at the US box office, fared even worse in Australia, where it opened at 173 screens. The romantic drama grossed only $388K in that country. For comparison's sake: also in Australia, Green Zone, scored $1.9 million at 212 screens. Overall, Remember Me grossed only $1.6 million at 530 screens in 9 markets.
The #5 movie on the weekend was Chris Columbus' fantasy adventure Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which earned $6.1 million, for a total of $120.5 million. That's nearly 50 percent more than what The Lightning Thief earned in the US/Canada.
Photo: Shutter Island (Andrew Cooper / Paramount)
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
>>>>>>>>>Remember Me did quite well actually.
No, it didn't. It grossed a little over $8 million, when Summit was reportedly expecting between $8 and $10. In other words, the film opened at the lower end of already quite low expectations.
>>>>>>The budget for this movie was $16M and it made back over half that amount in its first three days of opening.
No, it didn't. Box-office grosses don't translate into studio earnings. Studios get roughly 50% of what a movie earns at the domestic box office.
>>>>>>>It played in fewer theatres but still had a per theatre average of $3,657. It actually did better than Green Zone, which had a budget of over $100M and went way over even that amount and so far only has a per theatre average of $3,003.
The fewer the number of theaters, the more likely it is for a movie to have a higher per-screen average. For an opening weekend, $3,657 isn't good. Also, GREEN ZONE was **playing** at 3,003 theaters. Its per-screen average was $4,765, or more than $1,000 higher than that for REMEMBER ME.
>>>>>>>If you want to be critical of a movie, go start there.
I'm not being critical of anything. I'm just pointing out facts.
Also, the text above refers to **overseas** — not domestic — box office revenues.
A $3,000 opening at 530 screens — as was the case with REMEMBER ME — is quite underwhelming.
For the film to break even at the worldwide box office it'll likely have to earn anywhere between $30 and $40 million. I'm not sure that'll happen.
But of course, as a result of its low cost REMEMBER ME will eventually end up in the black thanks to ancillary venues both in North America and overseas.
Remember Me did quite well actually. The budget for this movie was $16M and it made back over half that amount in its first three days of opening. It played in fewer theatres but still had a per theatre average of $3,657. It actually did better than Green Zone, which had a budget of over $100M and went way over even that amount and so far only has a per theatre average of $3,003. If you want to be critical of a movie, go start there.