World box office September 2-4
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | Cume (int’l) | Territories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Bullet Train (Sony) |
$15.2m | $195.4m | $9.8m | $109.5m | 60 |
| 2. | Minions: The Rise Of Gru (Universal) | $12.1m | $890.2m | $8.9m | $531.3m | 85 |
| 3. | Top Gun Maverick (Paramount) | $11.3m | $1.4bn | $5.8m | $740.4m | 44 |
| 4. | DC League Of Super Pets (Warner Bros) | $9.6m | $159.5m | $4.1m | $78.7m | 58 |
| 5. | Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) |
$8.6m | $1.9bn | $2.6m | $1.1bn | 21 |
| 6. | Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (various) | $6.7m | $78.7m | $2.4m | $43.8m | 41 |
| 7. | Beast (Universal) | $6m | $45.8m | $2.3m | $20.4m | 76 |
| 8. | Nope (Sony) |
$5.8m | $159.1m | $4.2m | $39m | 79 |
| 9. | The Invitation (Sony) | $5.7m | $17.2m | $1m | $3.5m | 11 |
| 10. | Where The Crawdads Sing (Sony) | $5.6m | $115.2m | $3.7m | $30.3m | 5 |
Credit: Comscore, click top right to expand. All figures are estimates.
‘Bullet Train’ tops worldwide chart for second time
The arrival of Sony’s Bullet Train in Japan has seen the darkly comic crime film return to the top of the global box office.
Bullet Train – which takes place on a train travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto and is based on the novel by Kotaro Isaka – grossed $3.0m in Japan over the four-day period beginning last Thursday.
Weekend box office across all international markets was an estimated $9.8m, and in North America an estimated $5.4m, combining to $15.2m worldwide.
That number was enough to top the global box office – but it’s the lowest for a Number 1 film since Comscore introduced the worldwide weekend chart in June 2021.
In cumulative totals, Bullet Train has reached $85.9m in North America, $109.5m in international markets, and $195.4m worldwide.
Japan was the last major market to release the film. Bullet Train had been accused of ‘whitewashing’, with Japanese characters from the novel adapted to allow the casting of actors including Brad Pitt, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Shannon, Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz and Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio aka Bad Bunny.
Bullet Train also includes among its cast Japan’s Hiroyuki Sanada and UK-Japanese actor Andrew Koji. Helpfully for Sony, source novel author Isaka defended the international casting. David Leitch directs, from a screenplay by Zak Olkewicz.
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ rerelease powered by North America
Sony’s rerelease of Spider-Man: No Way Home in an extended cut – dubbed The More Fun Version – has seen the blockbuster return to the top of the North America box office, with estimated takings of $6.0m for the three-day weekend, and $7.6m including Monday’s Labor Day holiday.
Like other mature titles (see below), Spider-Man: No Way Home has benefited from Saturday’s National Cinema Day in the US, with tickets just $3 at participating cinemas. The day saw cinema admissions in the range of 8.0-8.1million (reports vary) – which compares with under 1million admits for the previous day.
Sony also rereleased the film in 20 international markets, grossing an estimated $2.6m.
The additional box office takes the global total to $1.91bn, but had no impact on the film’s ranking in the all-time charts, which remains sixth globally, more than $100m behind fifth-placed Avengers: Infinity War.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is the biggest film of all time in Mexico, second-biggest in Brazil and Indonesia, third in North America, fourth in UK/Ireland and fifth in Australia. It is also the highest grossing super-hero movie ever in 19 markets, including UK/Ireland, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Belgium and Turkey.
‘Minions: The Rise Of Gru’ dips to second place
While Universal’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru has ceded the global top spot to Bullet Train, the Illumination Entertainment animation is nevertheless performing powerfully for a film now in its 10th week of wide global release.
Estimated takings of $12.1m push the global total to $890.2m, comprising $358.9m in North America and $531.3m for international. The film has been on release for 11 weeks overall, including a week of early release in Australia.
Top international market is UK/Ireland with a $52.8m cumulative total. The film added another estimated $1.2m in the territory at the weekend, boosted by National Cinema Day on Saturday, with tickets priced at £3 – and returning the title to the box office top spot there. UK/Ireland takings for The Rise Of Gru enjoyed a 243% uplift that day compared with the previous Saturday.
In Italy, where the film is only in its third week of release, The Rise Of Gru stayed top of the box office (with an estimated $1.3m), despite the arrival last Thursday of competitor animation DC League Of Super-Pets. With $11.4m so far in Italy, the film has more than doubled the lifetime total of the next biggest animation of the pandemic era, Encanto.
Also for Universal, Beast rises from eighth place to seventh in the global chart (with estimated weekend takings of $6.0m) and Nope slips from sixth to eighth (with $5.8m). Cumulative global totals are respectively $45.8m and $159.1m.
Beast added 15 new markets including India, Hong Kong and Finland. Top markets remain Mexico ($2.6m to date) and UK/Ireland ($2.1m).
As for Nope, UK/Ireland remains way out in front for international markets, with $8.4m so far. South Korea and France (both $3.3m) and Australia ($3.1m) come next in the rankings on the title.
National Cinema Day boosts mature titles
In the US, Saturday’s National Cinema Day proved particularly beneficial to mature titles – suggesting that there had remained an untapped audience that just needed a discount price offer to propel them into cinemas.
Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick ranked second at North America’s weekend box office (with a $5.5m estimate, and a 17% rise), behind Spider-Man: No Way Home.
In third place, Warner Bros’ DC League Of Super-Pets saw a 32% rise, with estimated weekend takings of $5.45m.
The North American success has impacted the global chart: Top Gun: Maverick rises from fifth to third place (with an $11.3m estimate), and DC League Of Super-Pets surges from 10th place all the way up to fourth (with $9.55m). Global totals on those two titles are respectively $1.44bn and $159.5m.
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