MUMBAI: Two of this summer‘s biggest hit movies illustrate the lucrative possibilities of a simultaneous worldwide release — as well as its limits.
Sony greenlighted its Tom Hanks starrer Angels & Demons – based on author Dan Brown‘s less well-known follow-up to The Da Vinci Code – specifically because of its international expectations.
Staging a simultaneous worldwide bow in May, the results haven‘t disappointed: Angels has soared to $329 million internationally, combining with a more earthbound $128 million in North America.
“The world has become so small, and a film like Angels & Demons is able to tap into a worldwide audience,” said Sony worldwide distribution president Rory Bruer, who‘s in the Netherlands here this week for the annual Cinema Expo confab. “But you have to look at what‘s best for the picture.”
Indeed, though executives at all studios now routinely scrutinize foreign box-office projections when developing projects and planning campaigns, one need look no further than Terminator Salvation to realise some films will always elude easy alignment around the world.
Warner Bros. opened the iconic sci-fi sequel Stateside on May 21, but Sony — which holds most foreign rights on Salvation — held it back a couple weeks in most foreign territories to allow Angels a more open playing field.
Salvation has earned $200 million internationally, so it‘s hard to see where the delay hurt its worldwide haul.
On an industry-wide basis, domestic and international receipts now roughly even out. But Angels shows how disproportionately lucrative foreign campaigns can be, while Paramount‘s sci-fi reboot of Star Trek — a $239 million domestic grosser that‘s done just half as much business internationally — shows how individual films still can defy glib generalizations, Still, a growing global trend is clearly afoot.
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