Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest epic, ‘One Battle After Another’, has delivered the strongest opening of the auteur’s career, racking up $48.5M worldwide on debut.
The Leonardo DiCaprio-led Warner Bros drama earned $26.1M across 74 international markets, edging past pre-release forecasts.
It marked Anderson’s biggest launch ever in 68 territories, with standout debuts in France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.
In overseas like-for-likes (today’s exchange rates), OBAA is tracking +104% ahead of Argo, +55% above Sinners, and even +10% stronger than Killers of the Flower Moon.
Europe and Latin America are proving especially fertile ground, with the film already Anderson’s highest-grosser in six Latin American markets.
France is buzzing, with 4.7 stars from critics and 4.1 from audiences on AlloCiné. The Middle East over-indexed with $2.6M, while Asia is pacing on par with Flower Moon thanks to glowing reviews and strong word of mouth.
Top overseas openers: UK ($3.4M), France ($3.4M), Germany ($2M), Italy ($1.4M), Saudi Arabia ($1.3M). Still on deck are Korea (Oct 1), Japan and Turkey (Oct 3) and China (Oct 17). IMAX added $7.5M globally, with $2.9M from 378 international screens.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros has crossed $4B at the global box office this weekend. From the New Line label, ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ scared up another $15.4M overseas, lifting its international haul to $274.4M and a global total of $436M. Mexico leads offshore with $28.5M.
On the anime front, ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ keeps rewriting records, surging past $600M worldwide ($605.4M) to become the year’s 8th biggest release.
The Sony/Crunchyroll release earned $19.2M this frame, with overseas markets contributing $12.1M. Mexico ($16.6M), Germany ($12.5M), France ($12.3M), India ($9M – biggest anime ever there), and the UK ($8.4M) are the top offshore hubs.
Another Japanese powerhouse, ‘Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc’ (Toho), has pulled in $26M globally so far, including $7M from 13 international markets ahead of its wide Sony/Crunchyroll rollout beginning October 24.
Elsewhere in Asia, Park Chan-wook’s Venice buzz title and Korea’s official Oscar submission, ‘No Other Choice’, opened at No. 1 in its home market with a robust $7.5M debut.
