Taylor Swift tops worldwide box office; ‘One Battle After Another’ is Paul Thomas Anderson’s first $100m global hit

Worldwide box office: October 3-5

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ launches with $46m

Taylor Swift has provided a three-day boost for cinemas worldwide with her new album launch event, grossing an estimated $33m at the North American box office plus $13m across 54 international markets via Piece Of Magic Entertainment. Those numbers combine to deliver a $46m opening for Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl.

The 89-minute film celebrates the launch of Swift’s ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ album, and includes the music video for lead single ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’, behind-the-scenes footage of the video, lyric videos of the album’s tracks, and Swift’s commentary on the songs.

The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl is essentially an album launch event, and has played for three days only, with no encores planned. This contrasts with documentary film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which played a sustained succession of four-day weekends through October, November and December 2023, and into January 2024.

Swift has now launched the video for ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’ on YouTube, signalling the end of the cinema release.

‘One Battle After Another’ crosses $100m after two weekends

Warner Bros’ One Battle After Another has enjoyed a strong hold in international markets on its second weekend of play, declining just 17% in box office from the opening session, albeit modestly boosted by opening in three new territories including South Korea. The decline in international holdover markets is 22%.

Those gentle drops contrast with North America, where Paul Thomas Anderson’s film fell 49% at the weekend.

One Battle After Another grossed an estimated $11.1m in North America for its second weekend of play, plus $21.7m across 77 international markets. Cumulative totals are $42.8m in North America, $58.9m for international, and $101.7m worldwide.

This is Anderson’s first $100m box office hit, eclipsing 2007’s There Will Be Blood ($76.4m lifetime – not adjusted for inflation).

UK/Ireland (dropping 19% at the weekend) leads the international pack with $8.1m so far, ahead of France (falling 25%) with $6.4m. Germany saw a 5% rise at the weekend and ranks third with $4.6m, ahead of Italy (declining just 4%) with $3.1m.

Australia and Saudia Arabia are tied with $2.9m, and Spain ($2.6m) is just ahead of Mexico ($2.5m).

One Battle After Another has connected particularly well in Denmark, which is the 11^th-biggest market globally so far, with $1.4m. Denmark, which has a population of 6million, ranked 23^rd for box office among international markets in 2024, according to Comscore.

South Korea saw the film open with an estimated $1.0m.

Also for Warner Bros, The Conjuring: Last Rites added another estimated $13.4m, taking the worldwide total to $458.2m. It’s the 11^th biggest hit at the global box office so far this year, and the ninth-biggest from a US studio.

Asian titles dominate worldwide top 10 chart

Taylor Swift’s film, One Battle After Another and The Conjuring: Last Rites are the only three US titles in the latest worldwide weekend top 10 box office chart.

The chart sees Indian film Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1 land in third place with an estimated $26.6m for the weekend period and $35.7m since release last Thursday (October 2).

And the top five films at the China box office – The Volunteers: Peace At Last, Evil Unbound, A Writer’s Odyssey 2, Sound Of Silence and Row To Win – have all made the top 10 worldwide chart. Four are new releases.

Ufotable’s Japanese anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle (released by Sony/Crunchyroll in most markets outside Japan) remains in the top 10 chart, and has now reached a powerful $757.6m worldwide.

Kannada-language mythological action epic Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1 is a prequel to Rishab Shetty’s 2022 film Kantara. Set in pre-colonial Karnataka, the film stars Shetty as a man – believed to be of divine origin – standing up for the rights of his people.

National holidays boost Chinese films

The new China releases coincide with last Tuesday’s Martyrs’ Day (September 30) and last Wednesday’s National Day (October 1) holidays. Both The Volunteers: Peace At Last and Row To Win were released on Martyrs’ Day, with A Writer’s Odyssey 2 landing on National Day. Sound Of Silence released on Saturday (October 2).

Directed by Chen Kaige, The Volunteers: Peace At Last is set during the final stages of the Korean War (aka the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea). It’s the third chapter in Kaige’s The Volunteers trilogy, commemorating the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army entering the war. Total after six days is $51.2m.

A Writer’s Odyssey 2 is a sequel to Lu Yang’s 2021 fantasy action adventure film A Writer’s Odyssey, which was adapted from Shuang Xuetao’s novel of the same name. Total so far is $31.3m.

Wan Li’s drama Sound Of Silence stars Tan Jianci (aka JC-T) as a lawyer born into a deaf family, who takes on a fraud case impacting the deaf community.

Ma Lin’s comedy-drama Row To Win is adapted from Cai Chongda’s best-selling book Skin, and follows a family in a coastal town who attempt to build a land-and-sea gas station to solve their financial problems. Total after six days is $27.8m.

Evil Unbound (aka 731) is now in its third week of release, and has grossed $252.4m. The drama is set against the bacterial experiments conducted by the Japanese Imperial Army’s Unit 731 in northeast China.

US titles drop out of top 10

Titles dropping out of the top 10 chart to make way for all the new entries include Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, Universal/Focus Features’ Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, and Lionsgate duo The Strangers: Chapter 2 and The Long Walk. Toho and Sony/Crunchyroll’s Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc also fell out of the top 10, but should return after hitting North America and non-Asian international markets later this month.

Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie added an estimated $7.3m globally at the weekend, taking the total to $32.5m. Many key markets are still ahead of it, including France, Germany, Brazil, UK/Ireland, Spain and Japan.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale added an estimated $5.0m worldwide at the weekend, and has now reached $87.5m. The film should overtake the lifetime total of 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era ($92.7m), but will fall well short of 2019’s Downton Abbey ($194.7m).

• ‘Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl’ rules North American box office on $33m