Box Office News from Overseas

BoxOfficeMojo has a really good report on their site with some overseas numbers for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It’s doing very well in some countries and very poor in others. Here’s what they write:

After a rough domestic start, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader saved some face with a solid overseas debut. Reigning champ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 moved down to second place, while Tangled continued to assert its dominance over Megamind in the animated arena.

Dawn Treader grossed $65.8 million for a total of $79.8 million, and opened in first place in all of its major territories. Its biggest market was Russia, where it had a series-best $10.9 million debut. Including last weekend’s previews, it earned $7.1 million in Mexico and $5.3 million in South Korea, both of which were also highs for the Narnia franchise.

In other significant territories, though, Dawn Treader didn’t fare so well compared to its predecessors. Its $6.3 million in France was similar to Prince Caspian‘s opening, but way off from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Things were even worse in the United Kingdom, where its $3.9 million take was less than half that of Prince Caspian, which was already down from the first movie. Dawn Treader sets out to add to its total with openings in Germany and Italy this weekend.

The full report is available here.

82 Responses

  1. FriendOfNarnia2 says:

    Seems it is doing fairly well everywhere except the Britian, Austrailia, and the U.S.A. (which is unfortunate since the U.S. is where they really look at when considering the possibility of a sequel).

  2. Tarwe, the Narnian Elf says:

    I am so happy VDT is #1 in America right now! Maybe, just maybe, we'll see SC yet!

  3. MinotaurforAslan says:

    Exactly. I think this is why Golden Compass didn't have a sequel either, despite doing well overseas – it had a very mediocre performance domestically.

  4. FriendOfNarnia2 says:

    Although TGC had a bigger budget, and will probably have a little worse domestic run than VDT. But still, VDT is pretty much in the same shoes as TGC was 4 years ago.

  5. midnightmoon says:

    Thats great news,but I still think it would have bigger if this was a Disney movie. I mean Disney just knows how to make things more epic. I mean look at Tron and Tangeld both of those movies look awesome and fun. Fox didn't focus enough on the hype that big adventure movies need. I mean look at Alice in wonderland,Eclipse,and Toy Story 3, all of those movies had plenty of hype, great advertising,and fun interviews with the people from the movies. And one more thing Fox could've done better is give Ben Barnes more interviews, I'm just sayin'.

  6. Warrior 4 Jesus says:

    I don't know what you're talking about. VDT is doing well here in Australia. We don't have anywhere near the population of the UK or USA, so you can't expect those kind of numbers. Also, some people I've talked to still think the movie comes out Boxing Day, so maybe there are many who think similarly.

  7. jag says:

    The best hope for this wonderful franchise now is positive word of mouth! spread it wherever you can!

  8. Avra says:

    guys,I think our only hope of getting higher box office numbers is word of mouth advertising.I know just talking about getting SC when we just got VDT is kind of ungrateful but I'm biased (SC is my favorite book)and I've always wanted to see it adapted to film.So tell your friends & admit though this film is flawed, it's still really good…SO GO SEE IT!

  9. freya says:

    I think they need to look at the bottom line later. This movie, for some reason, have so different release dates throughout the world. Many places, like here in Norway, it doesn't release until 25th December, and when it does it is sure to jump straight to the top and stay there for a while. No other really big movies are coming out during Christmas that could give it any real competition here. And of course, if it was a Disney production it would've been given better advertising, so that would've helped it. It also hurts the movie that Ben Barnes haven't been pushed forward more, like before Prince Caspian. It also didn't help that there was a huge blizzard in the US during opening weekend. Can't wait to see it though, it looks amazing.

  10. Alambil and Tarvis says:

    My dad said he saw a TV spot for VDT that said it's now the #1 movie in the world…which is a big deal.

    Personally, I think VDT will hold up. I REALLY want to see SC (it's my favorite book too).

  11. Rob W. Case says:

    I agree completely. Disney hyped it up so much that you were enthused about going into the next movie. Unless you were a fan looking for it on your own, this film didn't quite get the fanfare it should have. I never saw one Narnia trailer in any of the movies that I expected to see it in all year (like Toy Story 3), or Despicable Me. I only saw the trailers online, but I was looking for them too. I did see a few 30 second spots here and there, but it was nothing like the way the first two movies were promoted. Yet, promos are part of the budget, and if you have a smaller budger, you will get smaller returns.

  12. QStheG says:

    Russia the Great)))))I like that our country saves the day))

  13. Aslan says:

    Unfortunately, a lot of these companies are looking for an immediate payout rather than investment capital. Just imagine the money they could generate in dvd / blueray sales alone with box sets of the complete chronicles as long as the storylines stay somewhat true to the books and the director's vision is not flawed.

  14. Thyservant says:

    Well, there's no need to worry about the box office. VDT hasn't hit China and Japan yet. It sails to China on Jan. 7th. A huge market is waiting! It is for the New Year and the Spring Festival and the Chinese translation of 'Dawn Treader' has everything to do with the good fortune at the beginning of the year. So I'm quite optimistic about its oversea performance. May VDT sail on and SC be made and more about the Good News spread in China through the magical world of Narnia.

  15. Embrace says:

    It will soon open in Sweden and I expect it do quite well here.

  16. Pyotr says:

    Слава Богу, для матери России!!!

  17. ilovefauns says:

    At least it is going well in some countries.

  18. Queen C The Gentle says:

    Cool, I wonder what Georgie+Skandar are going to do next… Oh, and Happy B-Day Anna!

  19. Queen Elizabeth says:

    I have a goodeling about them making Silver Chair. There have been many movies that have many sequels that have been made despite a not-so-good box office. Why else would Aslan have said, "Narnia may have need for you yet?" (somethin like that) HAVE FAITH!

  20. Queen Elizabeth says:

    I have a good feeling about them making Silver Chair. There have been many movies that have many sequels that have been made despite a not-so-good box office. Why else would Aslan have said, "Narnia may have need for you yet?" (somethin like that) HAVE FAITH!

  21. Louloudi the Centaur says:

    I think something that should help Narnia do better this weekend is that a few nights ago on Glenn Beck( who I've heard as the second most watched show in someway) saw the film and highly recommended it. Maybe the word of mouth got out, and people will just wait for the weekend when it's not as busy.

  22. elton says:

    it looks to be going well

  23. Pepper Darcy says:

    this is so wonderful!

  24. The narniad says:

    I do have to point out that in the UK, Dawn Treader came out on the biggest winter shopping weekend of the year. And many more people would have been in town shopping because of all the snow we've had lately- nothing people have been ordering online's been arriving, so everyone's needed to get gifts manually.
    It's also hard for people to get anywhere with the bad weather, so hopefully once things have settled, Dawn Treader will pick up more viewers. When I went to see the film, the whole cinema was very quiet.

  25. RoseRed says:

    agreed, obviously you can't expect the same numbers, but from what I hear it's doing pretty well out here 🙂 many of the early positive reviews were australian

  26. jo_yan says:

    I agree that VDT is pretty much in the same shoes as "The Golden Compass" was. But the main question here is: how much does Fox/Walden get from VDT's international earnings?

    TGC did great internationally much to the surprise of New Line. They sold off their international rights to finance the film. This decision cost them a huge portion of the film's earning because TGC didn't make much money in the US but did well above everyone's expectation internationally. Looking at the situation, I believed New Line would likely to have made the rest of "His Dark Materials" trilogy if they had received the profit TGC generated.

    Comparing the situation with VDT, we may be able to see SC made if VDT continues to do well internationally and Fox receive most of that earnings. If Fox do not have too much of a claim on its international profit, I afraid we may have seen the last of the Narnia film.

  27. High Queene Shelly Belly says:

    Using the US as the barometer is changing, they are looking at the big picture more, the Golden Compass is not beloved for 50 years like narnia, and the movie of GC was entirely boring. If they use their noggins and keep the production costs down they could make the whole series on a modest scale…try being tuer to the books to keep the hardcore people happy. AND BRING BACK HGW FOR THE MUSIC- DA IS TOO NONDESCCRIPT!!!!!

  28. High Queene Shelly Belly says:

    disney is THE brainwashing machine, it would have been all over the news and ent. tonight, all those freakin Tangled ads would have been VDT if they had kept it. If I was an average fan, I would have seen a commercial a grand total of 2 times. What were they thinking? and they did not want people to see ben at all, to link PC in their minds would be a disaster. ITs better to promote it than use the money in production.

  29. High Queene Shelly Belly says:

    I know, cant believe they didnt stick around just to get the trilogy done, then put out box sets. that was really weird. they must be really p.o.-ed at andrew andamson for buildig that huge freakin castle and flying production all over the world. he really did get out of hand, look at how much effort disney is putting into attacking VDT.

  30. High Queene Shelly Belly says:

    yes, this is what i mean about them focusing more on international markets, they say now their focus is overseas, that's why there's more action filcks than talky chick flicks, you have do translate more.for example, Tom Cruise is still huge overseas, cause they didn't see the couch jumping incident. He can still make limited dialogue movies and make a fortune worldwide. Narnia could do the same. I bet disney leans on the big corporations to not accept fox's advertising.

  31. High Queene Shelly Belly says:

    they really consider it a british property that would appeal to europeans that were raised on it, so i doubt they would sign the rights away, i think they expect world markets to support it more, seems the promo was much bigger over there. I bet they make SC. I just can't beleive how they gave up on the US, that was bizarre. And no videogame? for a film aimed at the kids market??!!

  32. High Queene Shelly Belly says:

    and the crazy money AA spent on diverting a whole river, and making such fancy detailed armour and stuff by WETA, it's shocking the waste that went into PC. watch the 4 disc set for the extras to see the outlandish extravagance , no wonder disney was so ticked off.

  33. High Queene Shelly Belly says:

    you've got the cutest name! : )

  34. High Queene Shelly Belly says:

    georgie has said she's in the running for 2 films, and skandar is concentrating on college. he's probably done acting- sorry-

  35. Mangolite says:

    Unfortunately, that money goes back to filled in the empty pockets of marketing, associates, investors, cast and crew, and other incurred financial need. VDT budget is at $140 million and currently it is only been making at $110 million [overall gross, both domestically and internationally] (12-15-10 per wikipedia), the film had not yet broke even. In the next few days, it may make it's money back, but that would hardly be a sign to greenlight the next installment. If they do, it will be straight to video format with all new casts and crew. Aslan will look plastic and the dialogue and acting will seriously be down graded. Hate to be a realist, but that's that.

  36. Demor says:

    idk I really liked the soundtrack for VDT. I thought he did an AWESOME job.

  37. Jonathan says:

    I do think that a large part of the reason that this is happening is because many people were very unhappy with Prince Caspian. I've talked to a number of my friends who were like "well, after Prince Caspian…" I had to re-assure them that this was NOT a repeat of Prince Caspian. Also again remember that in the US a number of places are getting hit HARD by bad weather and I think in general Narnia does not quite have the following that say Potter, Rings or *groan* Twilight does.

    That being said, I think that word of mouth will go a long way in the long run with this movie, as more people go see it and realize that it is in fact a good move they'll spread that to their friends who will go see it. I also think as I said earlier that a number of people will be seeing this over Christmas break. I know right now is tough because its finals week here at the University of Arizona so most people are busy cramming for finals.

    As far as no video game…is this a bad thing? Come on, when's the last time there was ever a good video game based off of a movie? The last thing we need is a bad game giving possible bad rep to the movie and turning kids off to it.

  38. Caleb says:

    Yay! A little more closer to 'The Silver Chair'!

  39. _Lilliandil_ says:

    I'm glad VDT is doing well- maybe it will encourage them to make more Narnia movies! 😀

  40. NarnianHarper says:

    I agree about HGW – there was nothing memorable or magic about DA's score. I don't have a single theme running through my head like I did with HGW. If they can't have HGW, I wish they would bring in James Newton Howard, who has a similar and equally magical style as HGW.

  41. baiservole says:

    wow. So proud I contributed to the BO of Dawn Treader in Russia. For once we're not failing in that department. Who knew!
    Please, Fox, do The Silver Chair!

  42. FriendOfNarnia2 says:

    But didn't it open to about half of what Prince Caspian opened to? Considering that VDT had the help of inflation and 3D prices…that's pretty sad.

  43. Not Of This World says:

    People remember, a lot of people go to the movies on Christmas and Christmas eve . . . I think the USA numbers will really pick up then.

  44. Gem says:

    I agree, the score in VDT is disappointing, to say the least. The music in the previous movies, especially LWW, was beyond brillant and some if not the best movie music I've ever heard. It rivals Two Steps From Hell even. I wish HWG would come back! They need him.

  45. Gem says:

    Don't you even DARE compare VDT to Eclispe.

  46. Gem says:

    I agree, the movie will be very popular Christmas Day and the weekend after Christmas. People just don't have time to go and see movies, but on break around Christmas they will. That's the con of releasing movies right before the holidays, you're going to get a lot more attention and money a few weeks later during the holidays than in opening week. Besides, there has been a lot of confusion, especially in foreign countries, as to when the movie comes out. And it also hasn't even come out in a lot of countries! I mean, most of Europe still isn't showing it yet.

  47. Farsight says:

    We sure will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  48. Dancinginrain says:

    Thats great!!! And People Don't go see TL!!! or Tangled! For now don't see it please let Narnia rise to a even greater boxoffice!
    Happy Birthday Anna!

  49. myartismylife says:

    When I went to see Harry Potter I was surprised to see a very good advert for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader just before it. They also have figuirnes of some of the charcters at the Hungry Jacks stores but I must admit there is nothing much to say that it is out now. It is the school holidays in Australia.

  50. myartismylife says:

    Then that would be a travasty and WHY woud they bother!!! No one would even look at it.

  51. Mike says:

    We're comparing the Australian open of VDT to the Australian open of PC and LWW. It's not doing well there compared to the first two films.

  52. nic says:

    at my local multi-plex in NZ, there is tron stuff front & centre everywhere with Narnia kinda shuffled to the sides & way less prominent. But the young couple checkin the sessions b4 me when i looked were finding Narnia. I see it fourth time with a different person this Friday in 3d, great to have a good Narnia film at the cinema to see i say!

  53. Tradition says:

    I don't know if you're aware, but the BBC did flim SC. It was the last and, in my opinion, far and away the best of their four Narnia adaptations, largely due to Tom Baker's preformance as Puddleglum. I really hope Fox does bring SC to the big screen, but the BBC version is well worth seeing.

  54. faunforaslan says:

    I was just told by one of my youth leaders that he loved VoDT! i was glad to hear it. Looks like everything is going well now… Hopes that SC gets green-lit are high!

  55. faunforaslan says:

    Oh, and happy birthday, Anna!!! 😀

  56. AsbelMcTalisker says:

    The very low figures from the UK can to a large extent be explained by the fact that over the last couple of weeks the country has been hit by the worst winter weather in 40 years!
    Its been so bad that some cities almost ground to a halt and its hardly surprising people just hav`nt been getting out to the cinemas. The distrubution of films has also been hit as some cinemas have been forced to change their line-up as the prints for the new releases just have not arrived.
    I suspect the box-office returns might take a jump once the weather improves and we go in to the holiday season.
    There might be just another little boost as the BBC will be running both TLTWTW ond PC in prime-time TV slots at Christmas as well!

  57. narnian resident says:

    thats really surprising that of all the places the UK is one of the least providing. very strange. but other than that, im very excited to hear good news! i ESPECIALLY love that it got ahead of Harry Potter 😀 and i love how Tangled is top in animation arena. that movie was so awesome!

  58. QStheG says:

    О..свои на горизонте)Здравствуйте,Петр)Не часто встретишь здесь россиян)

  59. rocketman says:

    As for talk about making SC, as a sequel, try this idea: If everyone wants to see more of the Pevensies, why not make "The Horse and His Boy" next? At least we would see Susan and Edmund again, and probably the rest of the family, with a little creativity. Perhaps the SC should wait…