‘The Shadow’s Edge’ leads Asian quartet; ‘The Roses’ and ‘Caught Stealing’ make modest starts with $15.6m and $13.2m at global box office

Worldwide box office: August 29-31

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘The Shadow’s Edge’ rises on third weekend

Local films from Asia continued to set the pace at the worldwide box office this weekend, with Chinese action taking over the top spot on the global chart from Japanese anime. 

In its third weekend, Chinese heist tale The Shadow’s Edge climbed from third place to the top of the Comscore chart, taking an estimated $26.8m, up 4% from the previous weekend. With a total gross to date of $107.6m, the Jackie Chan vehicle, directed by Larry Yang, increased its tally in spite of playing in only six territories, one fewer than last weekend. 

Japanese anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle, last week’s chart leader, slipped into second spot after taking an estimated $20.4m from 12 territories in its seventh weekend, according to Comscore, down 37% from last weekend, for a total to date of $257.9m. 

Crunchyroll/Sony, which has the Demon Slayer sequel for nine Southeast Asian markets, reported a weekend take of $4.3m from those territories, for a total of $42m, passing the lifetime totals in like markets of releases including Incredibles 2 and Ne Zha 2. 

Infinity Castle is now the top film of the year and the biggest anime release of all time in Hong Kong and several other markets. 

Further down this weekend’s global chart, Chinese animation Nobody held up well, grossing an estimated $15m, down only 20% in its fifth weekend in one territory, for a total so far of $189.7m. 

And Chinese historical war drama Dead To Rights stayed in the top ten by taking an estimated $8.5m, down 24% in the film’s fifth weekend, for a total of $392.5m. 

‘The Roses’ delivered on quiet Labor Day

Two Hollywood studio films made their domestic and international debuts this week, but both produced middling returns over the US Labor Day holiday, a four-day weekend that marks the end of the summer season and traditionally sees limited activity at the box office. 

The Roses, distributed by Disney for its Searchlight Pictures specialty division, took an estimated $15.6m worldwide over the weekend’s first three days, $9.2m from 40 international territories and $6.4m (expected to rise to $8m with the Monday holiday included) from North America. 

Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman star for director Jay Roach in the comedy (based on the same novel as 1989 Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner vehicle The War Of The Roses) about a seemingly perfect couple whose marriage crashes. 

Boosted by its British stars, the film opened top of local charts in the UK, with an estimated $3m, and several smaller European markets. It opened in third place (among non-local films) in France and Germany, with takes of $800,000 in each. In Latin America, Mexico produced $400,000 and Brazil $200,000. 

Openings still to come include Korea (set for September 17), Japan (October 24) and Australia.

Sony’s Caught Stealing made its start with an estimated global take of $13.2m, $5.4m from 5,950 screens in 48 international markets and $7.8m (expected to rise to $9.5m after Monday) from North America. 

Austin Butler stars, with Zoe Kravitz, Matt Smith and Regina King, for director Darren Aronofsky in the crime comedy set in nineties New York. 

The weekend’s other North American releases included Cineverse’s remake of eighties horror comedy The Toxic Avenger, with an estimated $1.8m over three days, and Universal’s fiftieth anniversary re-release of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, estimated to have bitten off an impressive $8.1m over three days. 

When the final numbers are in, the North American summer box office season is expected to produce a tally close to last summer’s $3.8bn but short of the $4bn some sources had been predicting earlier in the season. 

‘Weapons’ still powerful among Hollywood holdovers

Among studio-distributed holdover titles in the global marketplace, Warner Bros/New Line’s Weapons continued its strong run, dropping only 32% in its fourth weekend for an estimated global weekend take of $19.6m. A $9.4m take saw the release hit $100m internationally and North America added $10.2m (projected to rise to $12.4m after four days) for a global total of $232.4m. The film’s top international tallies to date are $13.9m from the UK, $8.6m from Mexico, $7.6m from France, $7m from Spain and $5.9m from Australia. 

Also distributed by Warner, F1 took another $4.7m internationally this weekend, for an international total of $425.2m. 

Universal/Dreamworks’ The Bad Guys 2 took an estimated $12.5m outside North America, taking the animation past a milestone to $103.5m internationally. A three-day domestic take of $4.7m boosted the film’s global total to $176.5m. 

The sequel opened this weekend in Germany with $1.7m, for second spot in the country’s top ten. In holdover markets it was down only 29% in China in its third week, and 3% in France in its fifth week. Territory totals now include $23.3m from China and $15.9m from the UK/Ireland. 

Universal’s Jurassic World Rebirth added $6.1m this weekend, for a global total of $855.2m. Its top territories are the UK/Ireland, with $48.1m, Mexico with $36.7m and Germany with $33.2m. 

Nobody 2, Universal’s live action sequel (not related to the Chinese animation mentioned above) added $3.9m for a global tally to date of $35.6m. The crime comedy opened in Korea with $295,000, for sixth place on the local chart.

• ‘Weapons’ beats ‘Jaws’ as North American summer box office closes just shy of 2024 on $3.7bn