Practical Magic 2 has flown off with a $46 million global opening, with $16 million overseas and $30 million domestic. That split shows the sequel is stateside driven, so the bulk of its gross will likely come from North America.
The overseas figure undershot the studio’s target. Warner Bros and Alcon were hoping for $18 million to $23 million in 77 territories. Instead, they got $16 million.
The $44.5M Comparison
The studio leans on comparisons to other Sandra Bullock titles, namely Lost City and pre-Covid Ocean’s 8. Those films rack up more ticket sales than Nicole Kidman’s solo outings, according to the figures. Sequels to beloved 1990s female properties also come into play, specifically Freakier Friday.
Freakier Friday opened to $44.5 million globally, with $15.5 million abroad and $28.5 million domestically. Practical Magic 2’s $46 million debut lands right in line with that.
Why The Studio Pushed Back Expectations
The opening is right where Bullock’s Lost City landed, but the sequel was never built to be massive like Devil Wears Prada 2. Tracking stateside had the movie approaching $38 million or even $40 million.
Instead, the result matches a cult 1990s female property.
Top Markets Around The World
The UK led internationally with $3.9 million, in line with Lost City’s $3.5 million start and ahead of Freakier Friday’s $2.3 million. Australia brought in $2.2 million, ahead of Freakier Friday’s $1.3 million.
Mexico’s $1.2 million start lagged behind Lost City’s $2 million and Freakier Friday’s $2.7 million. Germany’s $770,000 was under Lost City’s $1.4 million but ahead of Freakier Friday’s $549,000.
Spain was $651,000, similar to Lost City. France fell short of Lost City’s $2.5 million at $569,000. Brazil reached $528,000, Italy $487,000 (similar to Lost City), Poland $315,000, UAE $270,000, Holland $253,000 and New Zealand $237,000.
How The Overseas Haul Underperformed
The $16 million start is below the $18 million to $23 million the studio wanted in 77 territories. The sequel’s best strength was in English-speaking markets.
The Other Big Release
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey kept rolling. It filed a ninth weekend at $34.4 million from 85 territories, pushing its running cume to $1.68 billion.
That made it the highest grossing Universal theatrical release ever, overtaking Jurassic World.
Where The Odyssey Still Stands
Korea added $5.2 million for a running $87.6 million total, remaining the clear No. 1 title in the market. The Odyssey surpassed the lifetime of Avengers: Endgame to become the market’s third biggest Hollywood film of all time, as well as Universal’s biggest ever.
China’s fifth frame was $3.7 million for a $104.3 million cume. The pic is still Nolan’s second biggest, though it is performing in-line with Interstellar at the same point.
The Imax Numbers
The Odyssey is Imax’s highest grossing movie ever, with $506 million around the world for the large format exhibitor. Its ninth frame was $14.6 million WW, with $4.5 million from domestic representing 61% of its weekend for a running U.S./Canada total of $215.2 million.
International weekend was $10.2 million for a running total of $290.9 million. The Imax 70MM grosses did $3.2 million this weekend for a running cume of $78.8M.
At this pace, Odyssey could continue to hang onto Imax screens into the dead zone of October if it wanted.
The Concert Doc
Disney’s Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger took in $8.2 million WW, with $1.4 million domestic and $6.8 million foreign. Imax represented 71% of the pic’s domestic weekend.
The documentary opened as No. 2 in the band’s home country of the UK with $3.6 million, the top foreign territory. The top five theatres for Saturday were Vue Manchester Printworks, BFI IMAX, Showcase Glasgow East, Cineworld Glasgow Silverburn and Cineworld Ashton-Under-Lyne. Imax drove 14% of the gross as the end of Saturday in UK.
Elsewhere, the doc opened within the top five as follows:
- No. 1 MPA in Thailand ($200K)
- No. 3 MPA in Japan ($400K)
- No. 4 MPA Korea ($100K)
- Indonesia and New Zealand
-
5 (MPA) in Italy ($600K), Australia ($300K), Sweden, Chile and Uruguay
- Mexico and Germany did $200K apiece
- France and Netherlands did $100K apiece
What We Make Of It
The $46 million debut is par for the course against Freakier Friday’s $44.5 million. That is the honest reading of the numbers.
But the studio’s hopes were unmet. The $16 million overseas haul undershot the $18 million to $23 million target, and the sequel was never built to be massive.
It is a cult 1990s female property, and it acted like one.
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