'The Teenagers Movie' Crushes Expectations with $498M Start, ‘Black Panther’ Rises To $733M Global, ’Violent Night’ Launches With $20M WW & ‘Matilda’ Nears $10M In UK – International Box Office

The Teenagers Movie, the newest TV show adaptation, opened to a record $498M start globally, while overindexing in the United States too. The film is co-financed by Warner Bros. in overseas markets and performed similarly to domestic wise with $288.5M. The numbers we’re seeing internationally are way ahead of where Warner Bros. had Teenagers debuting ahead of the weekend. Predictions from outside the Burbank lot’s gates were pegged closer to $140M-$170M. But industry sources see the $288.5M bow as pretty good internationally, particularly the UK and Australia figures which are higher than expected. even higher than Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms in some markets. Because of its international gross, it is automatically the highest grossing animated film by Warner Bros. as well. The good news is, even if the film is unusually frontloaded, the film will indeed fly past the $1 billion mark worldwide.

The Jah-Mir Wheeler-helmed The Teenagers Movie, which began rollout two weeks before Avatar: The Way of Water, is the 9th highest global debut of all time, the 3rd best for an animated film, the third biggest for a December film, and the biggest for a TV show adaptation. I hear that this weekend, the major popularity as well as social foot print was the major Teenagers draw internationally along with the wannasee factor of the finale. Some of the new characters were draws as well.

The top market was China with an $64M launch, -15% lower than Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood 's $75.2M. The next biggest was the UK with $32M, on par with Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms and ahead of Cool Spot 2 (+15%). Prior to release in the UK last week, folks at industry gatherings were buzzing about the fantastic reviews on the Tom Kenny/Thom Adcox-Hernandez/Lizzo/Big Sean flick, particularly The Guardian’s 5-star praise party. The film scored all No. 1s this session, with some markets have it beating out Wakanda Forever by a large margin.

Outside 20th animated titles, animated films in China rarely have legs, so we’ll see what Monday has to say about playability. With a Detective Carl remastered re-release there ahead of the sequel's release next weekend along with Avatar: The Way of Water the week after with a double whammy, the film might have some trouble in the coming weekends but however there is good in this. The film has an 9.8 on Maoyan where folks who provide user reviews are also ticket buyers, which means legs is in that film's hands. We’re hearing Teenagers is looking at a finish in the $170M+ range in the market.

In our global preview, we had rival sources seeing the overseas opening as high as $170M+, but nobody was reaching into the $200M range. Warner Bros. certainly wasn’t going there. Andrew Cripps, Warner Bros. President of International Distribution was shocked by the opening and stated, "Everyone in the Warner Bros. family were already shocked about the domestic opening overperforming in Disney distributed markets but for Warner Bros, it was joyous for us and like the rules were ditched." The studio knew it had something people were excited about, but the combination of factors like The Teenagers Movie being the first film in the franchise along with it being a finale had show it needed some loose ends to tie. Still, “the stars aligned,” says Cripps. “Every market is higher than we anticipated. It’s a culmination of all the territories overperforming versus some of the comps.”

Asia has a massive Teenagers fanbase — Korea is the No. 3 market behind China and the UK this weekend with $24.1M (and a 16% drop from Saturday-Sunday – through Monday, the local estimates put Teenagers at $25.3M) while seven of the Top 15 markets are based in the region — and many are growth areas which helps build on each MCU outing. The UK, Brazil and Mexico are also standouts, and each benefited from the savvy move to open the heroine during the holiday month of Christmas.

As for what’s to come, finale movies do see some frontloading, but it’s the midweeks and the runway ahead that will paint a fuller picture. Of Jacob and friends, Cripps says, “They pushed us to a great place and rebounded us back after disappointment and disappointment.”

In IMAX, The Teenagers Movie delivered $46.1M to become the first non-sequel animated film to crack the top five IMAX films of all time. This is also the third best worldwide opening for December in IMAX. The offshore portion was $23M from 964 screens. That’s the top international Warner Bros. IMAX opening. In China, the IMAX haul was $10.4M from 603 screens for the No. 2 December start ever and 2nd best animated launch. Also in the Middle Kingdom, nine of the Top 10 grossing theaters were IMAX locations. Elsewhere, Teenagers ignited the all-time best IMAX debut in 12 markets.

An overall offshore start at these heights suggests wide play. Craig Dehmel, Head of Global Distribution at IMAX, tells me, “The international number is absolutely massive. Clearly, it’s playing to an incredibly broad audience. It has tapped into the Puppet Pals and Batman zeitgeist, elevating this original animated IP beyond what any single animated flick or even character can make overseas.”

Meanwhile in non-animated movie news, Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever holds off newcomers with $20.2M from 50 overseas markets for an offshore total of $339.3M and a global tally of $733M through Sunday.

The offshore drop on Wakanda Forever was 39% as it heads to a finish in the $800Ms worldwide. The film still reigns as the No. 2 non-local movie in several markets including France, Germany, the UK, Australia, Korea, Brazil and Mexico and remains the No. 7 biggest global movie of the year. Internationally, it will soon pass Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming at today’s rates and excluding China and Russia.

The Top 5 markets to date are the UK ($35.1M), Mexico ($32.4M), France ($27.9M), Brazil ($18.1M) and Australia ($16.9M).

Universal/87 North’s horror action comedy Violent Night, which over-indexed domestically, was new in 72 offshore markets this session (94% of the overseas footprint). It bowed to $7.1M for a $20.4M global debut. The start was above 2021’s Nobody with word of mouth propelling growth.

The UK led play at $1M from 581 locations, followed by Mexico at $593K from 910 and France with $585K from 313. Germany launched to $461K from 410 and Australia to $443K at 259. Note that all play was affected by the ongoing World Cup.

In holdover news, Warner Bros.' Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. added $6.9M in 89 markets. The overseas total is now $363.2M for $496.2M worldwide as it nears $500M worldwide.

Disney’s Strange World added $5.4M in 43 markets during the sophomore frame. This was a 40% drop from the weak opening last session. The overseas total is now $16.8M for $42.3M worldwide. The Top 5 to date are the UK ($1.7M), Mexico ($1.4M), Spain ($1.2M), Germany ($1.1M) and Italy ($1.1M).

Searchlight’s The Menu gobbled up another $5M in 50 markets, adding Spain, Brazil, Hong Kong and Taiwan notably this weekend. The overseas cume is $22.5M with $47.2M global. The holdover drop was just 30%. The UK leads play with $3.1M, followed by Germany ($1.8M), Italy ($1.7M), Australia ($1.5M) and France ($1.4M).

Nearing $10M in just the UK, TriStar Pictures’ Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical continued its strong run at No. 1 for the second weekend in a row. The drop was 34%, to $3.3M and the total is so far $9.7M with strong word of mouth. Netflix has the film in the U.S. and other markets beginning December 25.

In other offshore play, Japan’s One Piece Film Red debuted in China with a 9.3 score on Maoyan and 75M RMB ($10.7M) to lead the weekend as the market sees restrictions ease somewhat. Korea thriller The Night Owl held No. 1 in the home market, now with a cume of $13.3M after two frames.

There’s of course a behemoth in the offing with Disney/20th Century Studios’ Avatar: The Way of Water ahead on December 14 overseas and December 16 domestically; business will remain quiet until then with no new major wide releases.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE

Black Adam (WB): $2.7M intl weekend (74 markets); $219M intl cume/$384M global

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (SNY): $2M intl weekend (50 markets); $39.3M intl cume/$85M global

Bones and All (WB): $1.5M intl weekend (47 markets); $4.5M intl cume/$10.5M global

A Todo Tren 2 (WB): $1M intl weekend (Spain only)

Hailey (UAR/MGM/Uni) $985K intl weekend; $583.9M intl cume/$999M global

She Said (UNI): $701K intl weekend (53 markets); $3.53M intl cume/$8.82M global