‘Wonka’ Hits Sweet Milestone As Musical Tops $500M WW – International Box Office

Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Heyday Films’ Wonka continues its sweet run, crossing the $500M mark globally this weekend. The worldwide cume through Sunday is $505.3M including $329.1M from the international box office and with Korea, which has a fondness for Hollywood musicals, still to release at the end of the month.

The Timothée Chalamet-starrer added $15.3M in 77 overseas markets with another series of terrific holds in Spain (-1%), Australia (-36%), Mexico (-36%), the UK (-43%) and Brazil (-44%). 

Crossing the five-century benchmark also makes Wonka director Paul King’s highest-grossing film ever. Wonka originally opened internationally beginning December 6, 2023 and in North America on December 15, 2023.

WB Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs and CEOs Mike De Luca and Pamela Abdy commented today, “With Wonka, Paul King, producer David Heyman and the amazing cast and crew led by Timothée Chalamet have delivered a truly special musical event. It is incredibly validating to see this film achieve such an exciting milestone. We are grateful to our partners in exhibition for their unwavering support and the audiences around the globe who came out for this big-screen celebration. Congratulations to the filmmakers, cast and our colleagues around the world – this is a sweet start to 2024.”

The Top 5 markets to date are the UK at a fantastic $71.1M, France with $25.4M, Mexico at $24.4M, Australia with $21M and Germany at $20.9M.

This second frame of 2024 also offered a pair of new titles in Miramax’s The Beekeeper and Paramount’s Mean Girls.

The former buzzed into 49 offshore markets this session, grossing an estimated $20.4M. In like-for-like markets (excluding China and Russia), the start is 27% above Wrath of Man, 29% bigger than Plane and 23% over the first John Wick. The global 3-day is estimated at $37.1M. In IMAX, The Beekeeper grossed $8.1M worldwide. 

The Jason Statham-starrer performed best in China where he’s a strong draw. At No. 4 with $4.4M, The Beekeeper was the No. 1 import for the frame which was led again by local comedy Johnny Keep Walking! ($108.5M running cume).

Germany and Austria opened to No. 1 with an estimated $2.85M, coming in +152% on Wrath of Man, +117% on Plane, +45% on John Wick 2 and on par with The Equalizer.

The Middle East collectively opened at No. 1 with $2.7M, above the comps and on par with John Wick 2. Australia and New Zealand bowed to a combined $1.4M, in line with Wrath of Man. Other key openings were in Mexico ($1.3M), UK ($1.2M), Ukraine ($919K), Italy ($780) and Spain ($729K).

Markets still to come include Scandinavia, Korea and Japan.

Mean Girls, meanwhile, bowed in just 16 offshore markets, clicking with $6.5M including No. 1 debuts in Australia ($2.3M) and Mexico ($1.7M). The rollout represents 47% of the international footprint with the UK and New Zealand due next weekend, followed by Germany on January 25 and Belgium on February 7. The global 3-day is $34.5M.  

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