Mumbai: The Chinese box-office helped The Dark Knight garner the number one position on the foreign theatrical circuit though locally it stood at the second spot.
With an estimated overseas weekend collection of $46.4 million from as many as 10,156 theatres in 64 territories, the Batman sequel pulled in an estimated $28.5 million from Monday through Sunday from nearly 4,100 situations in China, according to distributor Warner Bros.
Also opening in China was the weekend‘s No. 2, Sony‘s The Amazing Spider-Man, the fourth title in the blockbuster series, which made its international debut on 27 June.
Of the total intake of $33.7 million from 7,125 sites in 59 markets, $33.3 million came from China over a seven-day period. This was more than that Spider-Man 3 grossed in its total China run. The total foreign collection of Amazing now stands at $475.3 million.
Millennium-Nu Image Films‘ The Expendables 2, last weekend‘s No. 1 title on the foreign theatrical circuit, is likely to go down to the No. 3 this week once all the numbers come in later this week.
The action sequel co0starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Dammes and Arnold Schwarzenegger opened at No. 1 in Brazil, Germany, Australia and ($564,053 from 66 sites) in Austria.
The film also remained No. 1 in its second France round and extracted $2.3 million from 870 spots in Italy and Russia via Universal pushing the two-market total to $22.8 million.
Tag: Australia
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Chinese box office helps Dark Knight to stand at No. 1
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SapientNitro appoints Sushobhan Mukherjee as VP- strategy APAC
MUMBAI: SapientNitro, an interactive marketing, creative design, and technology services agency, has appointed Sushobhan Mukherjee as vice president- strategy for Asia Pacific.
Based in Singapore, Mukherjee will report to SapientNitro senior vice president Christian Oversohl.
He will help expand the company‘s strategic capabilities and thought leadership across SapientNitro‘s offices in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, China, India and Singapore.
Oversohl said, “With his well rounded marketing experience across cultures, agencies and brands, Sushobhan was a great choice for this role. He will help clients create innovative brand experiences through insightful understanding of consumer behaviour and emotions, leveraging SapientNitro‘s connected capabilities across the communications and commerce continuum. This appointment represents a critical piece in our APAC growth strategy.”
Mukherjee added, “Consumers across Asia Pacific are embracing digital to change their lives fundamentally. Brands and consumers are now fellow travellers in a journey mediated by devices, interactions and platforms. SapientNitro is best positioned to help clients understand and navigate this fantastic journey, which is why I am excited to be here.”
Mukherjee has over 20 years of experience. He has worked across the marketing spectrum — from research to strategy to brand management. Prior to joining SapientNitro he had also worked with agencies like R/GA, JWT, and Publicis.
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The Dark Knight garners $122.1 mn in opening weekend
MUMBAI: Going by its weekend results, Warner Brothers‘ The Dark Knight Rises was seen ruling the foreign theatrical circuit, garnering $122.1 million from around 17,000 venues in 57 markets.
This is a nearly 40 per cent increase from the Batman sequel‘s opening that generated $88 million from 7,173 sites in just 17 markets. This pushed the film‘s foreign gross total way past the $200-million mark to $248.2 million.
Dark Knight Rises introduced itself in some 40 markets including No. 1 bows in France ($11.3 million at 892 sites including previews), Germany ($9.9 at 718 spots including previews) and in Mexico ($9.8 million at 1,141 situations). The film also premiered in Russia ($8.7 million at 1,310 screens including previews), Brazil ($6.6 million at 931 sites) and in Japan ($6 million including previews).Top holdover market was the UK where the film roped in $10.6 million from 598 spots for a market total of $47 million. Australia delivered $7.8 million in round two from 628 sites, pushing the overall total to $27.5 million. Average drop from opening round grosses in U.K., Australia, Korea and Spain was 52 per cent.
The aftermath of the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado seems not to have significantly affected second round foreign action. The film still has a long way to go to catch up to the overseas gross total of $469 million registered by 2008‘s The Dark Knight.
Passing the half-billion foreign gross mark ($514.1 million) was the weekend‘s No. 2 title, Ice Age: Continental Drift, that grossed $49.4 million at 15,924 venues in 69 markets. That puts the latest sequel in the computer animation franchise within very distant hailing distance of the best-grosser of the series, 2009‘s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, that grossed a total of $693.9 million offshore.
Continental Drift opened No. 1 in China, registering $15.7 million at some 3,500 locations, and also benefited from strong introductions in South Korea ($3.1 million at 501 sites) and in India ($1.5 million at 238 spots), both of which set market records for a Fox animation title.
At the No. 4 position was The Amazing Spider-Man the fourth title in the blockbuster series, which has been playing overseas since June 27 — elevated is foreign gross total to $412.7 million thanks to a $12.2 million weekend at 9,920 sites in 86 markets. Distributor Sony said the sequel is the top grosser of the franchise in 30 markets. Biggest offshore title of the series is 2007‘s Spider-Man 3 (bagging a total of $554.3 million).
Pixar‘s Brave continues to chug along on a measured release pattern overseas, playing in 24 territories — which distributor Disney describes as about 38% of the international market. Weekend tally for the animation title was $9.6 million, elevating the film‘s foreign gross total to $92 million. (Domestic cume stands at $217.3 million.) Brave is the weekend‘s No. 5 title. -
The Dark Knight makes $23.8 mn from Imax screens in opening weekend
MUMBAI: The Dark Knight Rises generated an opening weekend box office of $23.8 million in 396 Imax theaters worldwide, a statement of the giant screen exhibitor reported.
Toronto-based Imax said that the Warner Bros. Pictures film grossed $19 million domestically from 332 Imax screens, for a per-screen average of $57,200.
The global per-screen average was $60,100. Internationally, The Dark Knight Rises earned $4.8 million in 64 Imax theatres, for a per-screen average of $75,000.
Warner Bros. had earlier said on Monday that Imax grossed $1.57 million on 19 screens in the UK, and another $758,000 from 10 screens in Korea. The film grossed $659,000 from 5 Imax screens in Australia, and $55,000 from two screens in Spain.
Imax has another 89 of its theatres that are set to start screening The Dark Knight Rising this week, with China yet to screen the action film. -
Madagascar 3 still reigns overseas box office
MUMBAI: Madagascar 3: Europe‘s Most Wanted stood at its No. 1 position for the third consecutive week after it drew $30.1 million from 11,250 locations in 44 territories in the foreign box-office circuit.
The DreamWorks Animation film has surpassed the $200-million total gross mark ($208.4 million) since opening overseas on 6 June.
Complementing its No. 1 domestic opening, Pixar‘s Brave made its debut overseas after generating $13.5 million in its launch in 10 markets. As per its distributor Disney, the collection comes from 17 per cent of the international market.
The top-ranking territory of the film was Russia where the gross was $5.6 million representing a 42 per cent market share. Australia came in with a No. 2 ranking with $3.6 million while the film‘s China debut took 17 per cent of the market with $2.2 million. Overall, the film ranked as the weekend‘s No.3 title.Finishing outside the top five was 20th Century Fox‘s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter that opened offshore to $8.1 million at 2,656 venues in 17 markets for a per-site average of a little more than $3,000. This Civil War-set action fantasy, starring Benjamin Walker, drew $3.9 million in Russia from 1,482 situations.
The weekend No. 2 title was Universal‘s Snow White and the Huntsman, which took the top spots in France, Japan, Australia and New Zealand and collected $22.6 million overall at 6,780 sites in 60 territories.
Dropping to the fourth place was Fox‘s Prometheus drawing $12.7 million from 6,911 situations in 61 territories. With the film yet to open in key places as Japan, Germany, Italy and Spain, the sci-fi/action film has grossed more than $150-million ($152.9 million) to date on the foreign circuit.
Standing at fifth spot was Men In Black III that drew $10.5 million from 7,660 sites in 75 markets with Japan leading the cumulative pack with $35.4 million. -
Screen Australia initiates funding round with new docu
MUMBAI: Screen Australia has initiated funding for documentaries with a four-part SBS series. The funding would be worth $1.8 million across six one-off documentaries and one series and is expected to trigger $4.8m worth of production.
Following on from SBS‘s four part series Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta, which aired earlier this year and took 0.850m viewers across SBS1 in English and SBS 2 in Vietnamese will be Once Upon A Time in Punchbowl. The series will examine the Lebanese migrant settlement in Western Sydney and produced by Tim Toni and executive produced by Sue Clothier.
“I‘m thrilled to announce investment in the SBS series Once Upon a Time in Punchbowl. This important series will again strongly resonate with the local community,” Screen Australia‘s documentary manager Liz Stevens said.
Also receiving funding will be one-off documentaries about punk band The Sunny Boys, a floating hospital that visits poor nations, ten years on from four teen mums who stayed in school, the relationship between Judith Wright and HC ‘Nugget‘ Coombs, Licence to Kill about the events that take place after police use their firearms in the line of duty and Grey Man about Australian-led raids on the Thai sex trade. -
Tripadvisor launches $1.5 million creative ad challenge
NEW DELHI: Travel site TripAdvisor has launched a new creative ad challenge for travel brands and advertising agencies to design a creative ad campaign that will run on TripAdvisor websites.
The company has set aside a total prize fund of $1.5 million, and the winning entry on the TripAdvisor India site will receive $100,000 in equivalent CPM (cost per mille).
The 2012 TripAdvisor Creative Ad Challenge gives the industry an opportunity to showcase their creativity and talent through the highly interactive medium of online ad display and the chance to impact a global audience of travellers, who are looking for inspiration while planning their next trip.
TripAdvisor VP Display Sales EMEA Martin Verdon-Roe said, “The 2012 Creative Challenge gives travel brands the freedom to develop an engaging media campaign that tells a story and shows what their brand really stands for, rather than just focusing on the more traditional ROI price point creative that is so common online. Following the success of our last challenge which was hosted in UK last year, this year it‘s even bigger and provides multiple opportunities for travel brands to win specific market campaigns.”
This year the challenge has been expanded to include 11 markets across Europe and APAC. From the Europe market UK, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey are part of the challenge while in APAC, India, Australia, Singapore, China and Japan are included. All travel brands and advertising agencies from the respective countries are entitled to participate in the challenge.
All entries must be submitted by 31 May – the winning campaigns will run on TripAdvisor between August and October.
The campaigns will be judged by a panel of TripAdvisor sales and marketing experts, as well as representatives from the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
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Memento Films picks up US rights of Lore
MUMBAI: The distribution rights of forthcoming film Lore by Australian director Cate Shortland, set in the aftermath of World War Two Germany, for the US has been picked up by Music Box through France-based international sales agent Memento Films.
The film, an adaptation of Rachel Seiffert‘s The Dark Room is the story of Lore, a young German girl who must get her four younger siblings to her grandmother on the other side of the country after her Nazi parents are arrested by Allied Forces
Lore is a co-production between Australia, Germany and the UK, produced by the Australian Porchlight Film‘s Liz Watts as well as British producer Paul Welsh and German producers Karsten Stoter and Benny Drechsel.
Averred Watts, “I‘ve not worked with Music Box before, but we‘re keen to be in their catalogue. They‘ve done a lot of foreign films like they did the release of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”She said the size of the release in the US would depend on the launch of the film internationally. “We will work with Memento in regards to presenting it. It is German language film in a US market. It will be an appropriate release,” she added.
Internationally, the film has also sold into Benelux to ABC, Brazil to Mares Filmes, to South Korea‘s Linetree, Isreal‘s Lev and to Colombia/Central America‘s Cineplex. -
3 creative teams get Screen Australia’s short film initiave’s funding
MUMBAI: Screen Australia‘s Springboard Short Film Initiative has ensured that three creative teams receive investment for their upcoming projects. The idea behind the Springboard Short Film Course is to offer creative teams the opportunity to make a short film that will be the grounding for a feature film idea.
Screen Australia‘s head of development Martha Coleman said, “This year‘s Springboard workshop has encouraged participants to focus on providing an intense emotional experience by combining a great script with a strong director‘s vision.”
While writer-director Nicholas Verso and producer John Malloy will make The Last Time I Saw Richard, writer-director Miranda Nation along with producer Lyn Norfor will make Perception. Lastly, writer-director Sean Kruck will make Snowblind with producer Caroline Barry.
It may be noted that previous recipient writer-director Zak Hilditch made the short film Transmission with producer Liz Kearney that was selected for this year‘s Tribeca Film Festival. The Springboard Short Film Initiative also helped the makers to get finance for their feature These Final Hours.
Another previous recipient was Grant Scicluna whose film The Wilding won at this year‘s Melbourne Queer Film Festival for Best Australian Short and was in competition at this year‘s Berlin Film Festival.Five teams were selected for the Springboard course with convenor Paul Welsh. The teams will receive up to $150,000 each to make a short film.
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The Huger Games tops overseas grossing $59.3 mn
MUMBAI: Already a box office superhit in the US and Canada, Lionsgate produced The Hunger Games opened on the foreign theatrical circuit grossing $59.3 million at around 7,700 locations in 67 offshore markets.
Overseas, the action/sci-fi vehicle opened as the weekend‘s No. 1 after the films‘ foreign opening was said to be the year‘s second biggest opening; nearly $10 million less than the March 11 debut weekend gross of Disney‘s John Carter at 51 locations.
Starring Jennifer Lawrence as a 6-year-old heroine who fights to survive a last-person standing contest, Games registered dominant No. 1 market introductions in Australia via Roadshow ($9.69 million at some 260 sites) and in the U.K. via Lionsgate ($7.49 million from some 515 situations).
Leading the non-English-speaking markets was Russia where The Hunger Games grossed $6.5 million. The No. 1 France debut via Metropolitan Filmexport kicked in $3.75 million from about 400 locations while Germany via Studio Canal contributed even more, $3.9 million from 610 sites.
Based on the first book of Suzanne Collin‘s popular trilogy about kids killing kids in a dystopian future, Games drew a worldwide opening gross of $214.3 million.
Debuts in Italy, South Korea and Spain will take place next month while the film‘s Japan opening is scheduled for September.
On the other hand, Disney International‘s Carter, that was the No. 1 overseas for the last two rounds, grossed $22.2 million on the weekend in 54 territories that is more than four times its domestic tally. Carter dropped to fourth place in key markets like Australia, Germany, Spain and South Korea. It finished No. 7 in the U.K., No. 8 in Italy and No. 9 in France.
Finishing No. 3 on the weekend was Fox International‘s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which picked up steam on the foreign circuit with openings in about a dozen markets, highlighted by a No. 2 Australia debut, which produced $3.75 million from 288 screens.
Weekend gross overall for the comedy-drama about British pensioners in India came to $8.26 million drawn from 1,859 sites in 18 markets. Foreign cume stands at $33.3 million. Hotel opens domestically on May 4.