Saturday July 18, 2009

Quick Movie Quiz

OK, here's the answer:

"Transformers" is the gimme. The other two are surprises because neither has gone gangbusters at home.

Where are our other domestic blockbusters? "Star Trek," at no. 3, has never done well overseas, but this version is doing better than most, making over $125 million abroad so far. Even so, it's still at no. 123—behind even "Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian" (no. 119), which has made more abroad ($210m) than at home ($171m). "The Hangover," no. 4, is a comedy, and non-cartoon comedies don't travel well. (Even so, it's at no. 201 worldwide.) 

The big surprise is "Up," our no. 2 movie, which has made $277 million at home but only $48 million abroad. For a Pixar movie? Initially this had me worried. Could Richard Greenfield have been right after all? Closer examination reveals its international distributor—Buena Vista, one assumes—for whatever reason, is opening the film differently. Meaning not in one big gulp. The film hasn't even opened yet in the most lucrative foreign markets—the U.K., Australia, Japan, France and Germany and Eastern Europe—but it's done well in the markets it has opened. It made $13 million in a month in Mexico, for example, which compares favorably with the $17 million "Finding Nemo," Pixar's most lucrative film, made there in 2003. So no worries. "Up" has nowhere to go but up. 

What's depressing is that international audiences seem to feast on crap even more than even domestic audiences. Those three films in the above chart aren't exactly bonne cuisine. The top critics at Rotten Tomatoes gave "Ice Age" a 37% approval rating, "Angels & Demons" 31%, and "Transformers" 18%. Which is kind.