’Clayface’ stays top of global box office in quiet Halloween weekend session; ’Wildwood’ moves up to second

Worldwide box office: Oct 23-25

Credit: Rentrak. All figures are estimates

‘Clayface’ rules world with $23m weekend

Warner Bros/DC Studios’ Clayface rules the worldwide box office for a second weekend in a row, with estimated takings of $22.8m. Totals after two weekends of play are $44.1m in North America, $38.9m for international, and $83.0m combined.

Worldwide weekend takings below $23m are dismally low for a chart-topping film. Other weekends topped by a film with a relatively low number include late January and early February this year: Disney’s Send Help topped the worldwide chart in the last weekend of January with $28.1m, and then the subsequent session saw Stray Kids: The Dominate Experience rule with an anaemic $19.0m.

The lack of a significant new release over Halloween weekend helps explain the current becalmed market.

Clayface fell 57% from its opening weekend number in North America, and 34% in international markets. Those week-to-week percentage decline numbers are considered respectable for a film adapted from a DC or Marvel comicbook.

UK/Ireland continues to rule international markets, with $6.1m to date – more than double the territories sharing second place, Australia and Mexico with $2.5m each so far. Next come France ($2.4m), Brazil ($1.7m), Italy ($1.7m), Spain ($1.4m), Saudi Arabia ($1.4m) and Germany ($1.3m).

With a reported production budget of $44m, Clayface looks to be on a profitable trajectory, taking account of box office shares with cinemas and marketing costs, but also future ancillary revenues.

‘Wildwood’ expands footprint, moves up to second place

Laika’s stop-motion animation Wildwood expanded into 36 new international markets at the weekend, bringing its release to 47 countries in total. Estimated global takings in its second session are $11.5m – good enough to see the film move up from fourth to second place in Rentrak’s worldwide weekend chart.

Total after two weekends of play is $35.2m: breaking down as $25.9m in North America, and $9.3m for international, where the rollout is gradual. There are more than two dozen more international markets still to open over the coming weeks and months.

UK/Ireland remains Wildwood’s top international market, with $3.8m after two weekends of play for Black Bear.

Wildwood has already overtaken the weak worldwide lifetime total of previous Laika film Missing Link ($26.6m in 2019 according to available data), and is now almost halfway to reaching the $76.3m lifetime tally achieved by 2016’s Kubo And The Two Strings. (Comparisons in this report are not adjusted for inflation.)

The other three Laika titles – Coraline, Boxtrolls and ParaNorman – all achieved lifetime worldwide box office above $100m.

Wildwood is adapted from the 2011 fantasy novel by Colin Melloy and Carson Ellis, and is the first Laika film to carry a PG-13 certificate in the US and 12A in the UK, following PG certificates for the other five films. The distribution challenge remains attracting sufficient older teens and adults to compensate for the loss of families with young children. Production budget is reported at $100m.

‘Wicker’ lands with $7m debut

Black Bear’s Wicker has landed in seventh place in the global weekend ranking, thanks to an estimated $4.1m second session in North America plus $2.6m across an initial nine international markets. Drop from the opening in North America is a relatively mild 28%, albeit buoyed by a 61% expansion in cinemas (up from 1,471 to 2,374).

Worldwide total is $16.4m, including $13.3m from 10 days’ play in North America.

Among the international markets, UK/Ireland leads on Wicker with an estimated $2.3m, nabbing the box office top spot. The film has particular local appeal: it’s set in medieval England, and the cast includes many British actors including star Olivia Colman.

Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Watson direct from their own original screenplay. Producers include Topic Studios, Tango Entertainment and Colman and partner Ed Sinclair’s own South Of The River Pictures.

Filming took place in Hungary, and production budget is reported at $10m. Colman stars as the socially isolated Fisherwoman, who asks Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make for her a Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgard) – leading to jealousy from the other townsfolk.

In addition to Wicker, the only other new entrant in the worldwide weekend top 10 chart is Indian action comedy Aadarsha Kutumbam House No 47, which debuts with an estimated $5.4m. The Telegu-language film – focusing on the lives of a family sharing the titular dwelling – is written and directed by Trvikram Srinivas, and stars Venkatesh and Srinidhi Shetty.

Holdover titles remaining in the top 10 include documentary smash You Can See Everything ($63.9m after three weekends of play in North America, and now beginning its international rollout with first market Turkey), Resident Evil (now hitting $400m worldwide), Other Mommy, Heart Of The Beast and Street Fighter. Sliding out of the top 10 chart this weekend are Jailer 2 and Whalefall.

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