In its first five days in foreign theaters, Marvel’s The Avengers raked in a whopping $185.1 million.
That’s right. By the time the latest supersized superhero flick spools up in American theaters this Friday, it will likely have pocketed somewhere north of $200 million—all before a single ticket in the good ol’ U.S. of A. has been torn in two.
Not so very long ago—as in, earlier this year, actually—a big-budget blockbuster like The Avengers would unquestionably have opened first in the world’s most lucrative movie market, then steadily rolled out to overseas (read: secondary) markets.
Then came John Carter.
Disney’s epic Martian tale of war morphed into an epic monetary tale of woe. Industry experts estimate that the $250 million bomb could become the biggest money-loser of all time. In the words of an old cliché, it started off slow then tapered off altogether.
To be sure, the film suffered from poor reviews and lack of audience awareness. But when American moviegoers responded tepidly right out of the gate, it seemed to prime foreign markets to perform similarly.
Eager to avoid a similar fate, Universal executives decided to try a novel marketing tack with their latest bombastic CGI spectacle, Battleship. Like John Carter, the film was already listing after critical torpedoes to the midsection. And like John Carter, Battleship sports a Titanic budget, reportedly more than $200 million. (And we know what happened to the Titanic—the ship, not the movie).
Unlike Disney’s Martian misfire, however, Battleship will likely float long enough to put Universal in the black, because it was released in foreign theaters more than three weeks ago and won’t actually drop anchor here in the U.S. for another two weeks. Result? It’s already raked in $170.9 million from 50 overseas territories such as Bulgaria, the Philippines, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates—probably enough to keep it from sinking even if it U.S. audiences strafe it.
Disney (which bought Marvel in 2009) quickly adopted the same strategy with The Avengers. And it’s paying off handsomely as well.
Envious American moviegoers may shed a tear or two over their loss of cinematic hegemony. Indeed, after the overseas succes of Battleship and The Avengers, we may have been shuffled permanently to the back of the ticket line.
More significantly, however, the increasing stature of the foreign box office illustrates the truly global nature of pop culture these days. By the time American films like Battleship reach our shores, they will already have unloaded their 16-inch box office guns at practically every other country on earth.
Recent Comments