Battleship opened in many territories overseas a month before it’s set to open here, and given that it’s a $200 million-plus movie ($209 million* according to the studio, $250-plus according to everyone else) based on a board game, its performance could have severe consequences for how many more of these pieces of shit get greenlit. Asia and the Euro Zone has been bombarded with relentless advertising for it (OMG! RIHANNA IN A SAILOR HAT!**), and sadly, it sounds like it seems to be working.
Universal’s Battleship continues to screen strongly overseas with estimates from Day 2 and Day 3 bringing the 72-hour total to $58 million with all 26 international territories now open. Director Peter Berg’s military vs alien actioner opened to #1 in 24 of those new territories.
– The UK opened #1 on Friday with an estimated $1.3M (£770). That’s ahead of Thor but behind Wrath Of The Titans and John Carter. The total with previews is $3.7M (£2.3M).
– Spain opened #1 with an estimated $900k (€681k), better than Iron Man.
– Germany opened #1 on Thursday with $900K, which is the biggest opening for an English language film in Germany this year. It continued #1 on Friday with $1.2M, equal to Iron Man but not as big as Transformers.
– Japan opened #1 with an estimated $900k (LC 72M), higher than Thor‘s opening day.
– Thailand opened #1 with $470K, which is the biggest opening day of 2012 and Universal’s 2nd biggest opening day ever (behind only Fast Five).
– Malaysia opened #1 with $390K, which is Universal’s biggest opening day of all time.
– Korea had another strong day and Battleship remains #1 with a three-day total of $4.2M (LC 4.7M) — better than Iron Man and Thor. [Deadline]
A movie about ships from space attacking an international force of obsolete naval vessels based on a boardgame is outgrossing Iron Man in almost every place. What can you even say about that? But while it seems disappointing, I see opportunity here. There’s still a chance that it could completely bomb domestically. LET’S GO, AMERICA! WE CAN SHOW THESE CHEESE-EATING ARMPIT FACTORIES WE’RE NOT AS DUMB AS EVERYONE SAYS! TWO-TIME WORLD WAR CHAMPS! USA! USA!
*The LA Times says $211 million.
**”According to the Telegraph, “Her dialogue consists almost entirely of tough interjections such as ‘dang’ and ‘boom.’”
Aw, but was it spicy?? I hope not, or else Michelle Rodriguez might be out of a job.