International Insider: Box Office Bounce; Disney Asia Interview; ‘Suits’ Effect At Netflix UK
Happy Friday, Insiders. Jesse Whittock back in a week where the box office proved beyond all doubt that it is alive and kicking. All the big film and TV news from the international sphere follows. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Bouncy Box Office
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‘Moana’ to ‘Glicked’: It’s been a robust few weeks at the international box office largely thanks to the customary end-of-year studio fare, which has pulled audiences out of the winter cold and back into those uncomfortable multiplex seats. Defying gravity, Universal’s Wicked debuted at $164.2M, the biggest opening weekend for a Broadway adaptation. The split on the Jon M. Chu-directed flick was $114M domestic and $50.2M from the international box office. The bumper number also places Wicked as the highest-grossing opening Friday flick in Imax for a PG film. Also pulling weight on international shores is Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, which has rumbled past the two-century mark globally, now with $221M worldwide. Impressive stuff. Despite attempts to lump the two flicks together for a combined ‘Glicked’ opening weekend, this isn’t a like-for-like. Scott’s sequel has already had two weekends of overseas play and has opened in markets where Wicked is still yet to bow. The Gladiator II split was $55.5M domestic and $165.5M internationally. The ticket stubs are set to continue flowing this weekend as Disney’s Moana 2 starts its international run. The film is already off to a splashy start in its early international box office markets, diving in at $8.8M on Wednesday and clocking in at the no.1. spot in 10 markets. The film landed the best opening day of 2024 and the second highest animated opening day of all time in France. Globally, the total through Wednesday is $66.3M. The projected international box office opening through Sunday is $100M+.
‘Wild’ times:The Wild Robot became the 14th studio film of 2024 to cross the $300M barrier, as cinemas head into the festive period with a fair amount of some Christmas spirit propelling them forwards. Exhibitors are likely grinning into their mince pies with these figures and there’s more to come with Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: The Lion King, Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu, and Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown all set to drop next month. Remember when we all decided the pandemic had killed off theaters? Well, it’s a happy holiday season at the cinema.
Carol’s Choice
Putting a premium on it: While in Singapore last week, Sara Merican secured an exclusive interview with Disney APAC original content boss Carol Choi and on Monday we published the resulting article. In the piece, Choi talked about how Disney+ had evolved in Asia from a mass-market service to one more focused on premium subscriptions. Disney+ launched in the continent as part of the global rollout that took place during the Covid crisis when everyone everywhere did nothing but stream content all day, every day. After retrenching from original content production last year, the strategy has since been, as Choi says herself, to focus on where Disney gets “most bang out of our buck.” Korean and Japanese originals have anchored the service, and now in consideration is live sports, new Southeast Asia plans and a possible return to originals. Choi, who has been with Disney since 2006 and worked across Asia, added further confirmation for the enduring impact of K-content, ending the conversation with Sara by saying, “Right now, definitely the trends are being set by Korea.” You can read more about Disney’s plans in Asia by clicking here, where we’ve got several reports from Sara’s trip to the Disney APAC Content Showcase last week.
Holmes from home: Over in Europe but staying with Disney, Sky exec Karl Holmes was handed control of Disney+ EMEA, replacing Luke Bradley-Jones, who left to become President of The Economist earlier this year. Holmes, a financial whizz by trade who keeps a low profile, will lead the London-based team that has commissioned the likes of Rivals, Extraordinary and The Good Mothers. His appointment comes at a time of change for Disney’s EMEA hub, with a Disney+ content chief still being sought following the planned exit of Liam Keelan.
‘Suits’ You, Sir
The ‘Suits’ effect: When faced with an over-abundance of choice, audiences tend to return to familiar TV shows – just look at what happened when Suits arrived on Netflix last year. But Max happened upon a new Netflix trend with his analysis this week revealing how older British network shows are driving viewing to the platform. According to ratings firm Digital-i, 10 of the 11 most-watched shows licensed by Netflix in Britain this year premiered before 2020 on their respective networks, with the likes of Deadwater Fell, Honour and Cleaning Up performing particularly well. Digital-i, along with producers we chatted with, posited that the trend is partly driven by a dip in broadcast TV viewing over the past few years from young people, meaning that they may have missed these older shows when they first aired. It was therefore illuminating to see that the Netflix top 10 at the start of November was topped not by The Diplomat nor Outer Banks, but by My Wife My Abuser: Captured on Camera, a documentary Netflix picked up from Channel 5. UK trade body Pact’s subsequent research published this morning that showed sales of Brit shows hitting record highs across the Atlantic last year felt timely.
On the soap box: Streamers behaving like TV networks was also evidenced in another nugget of Netflix news Tuesday with the unveiling of Tout Pour La Lumière, its first ever European soap. Made with Newen Studios and local net TF1, the show, which will be set in the world of music and dance, films next year and become available on Netflix five days prior to its free-to-air broadcast on TF1 and VoD player TF1+. It is an intriguing move, which Netflix France boss Pauline Dauvin hailed as a “first” for the nation. The news comes a few weeks after Disney+ unveiled the similar Return to Las Sabinas, which is thought to be the first daily drama commissioned directly for streaming.
Great Danes
Danish niche: For a considerable time now, producers in Denmark have felt hamstrung in their efforts to attract bigger projects to the country. They’ve watched on enviously as Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland have, to differing degrees, provided rebates and subsidies for international productions and become shooting hubs. Not only that, but Denmark even introduced a streaming levy, meaning it was the only country in the EU charging Netflix and co to operate without providing its own industry any help. That changed earlier this week, however, when the Danish government announced plans for a 125M krona ($17.6M) production rebate system. Expected to launch in 2026, the rebate offered through the scheme is bigger than those offered in Norway, Sweden and Finland, while Iceland’s 35% eligible costs write-off doesn’t have an official budget cap. There might have been something rotten in the state of Denmark, but things are starting to smell a lot rosier.
Royale ‘Rumba’
Ready, set, Congo: If you don’t know Fally Ipupa, the French-Congolese ‘Prince of Rumba’, now’s a very good time to change that. The musician and dancer teamed with Belgian-Iranian writer-director Hamed Mobasser to create feature Rumba Royale. Taking place in 1959 before Congo became independent from Belgium, the historical thriller set against a backdrop of Congolese rumba dance is being billed as a love letter to the country’s cultural heritage. It also marks Ipupa’s first acting role. He and Mobasser featured in Diana’s latest International Disruptors article, and they told Diana about how the film merges the captivating melodies of the time with fiery desires for independence. “One of the main reasons I was drawn to this movie is because of the story and how it represents Congo and portrays rumba music,” Ipupa said. “I was keen to be a part of something that could offer up something about our pop culture from a historical point of view and show Congo in a new light.” In a similar but different vein, I interviewed director Nikkhil Advani and SonyLIV’s Danish Khan about the early feedback on their Indian independence drama series Freedom at Midnight, with news that the next season of the streaming show is moving the action beyond the 1947 Partition of India to the refugee crisis that followed. Here’s the piece.
The Essentials
??? Hot One: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds actor Paul Wesley has been cast as the lead in 2023 Series Mania-winning Ukraine war thriller series Unspoken. Peter White with the scoop.
??? Very Hot: A biopic about iconic Italian actress Anna Magnani is in development at Indiana Production, Mel revealed.
??? Boiling: The production team behind The Tattooist of Auschwitz is now making a doc about the notorious concentration camp, as Stewart reported first.
???? “I did knock”: Emma Thompson’s Nanny McPhee stage musical is eyeing a 2026 West End debut, sources told Breaking Baz.
?? Give me shelter: Belgium’s Umedia, which oversees tax shelter funds in country, bought into Belga Studios.
?? MasterChef UK: The cooking competition stood down judge Gregg Wallace after allegations around his behavior on set emerged.
???? BBC News: Top presenter Mishal Husain is exiting the UK’s biggest newsroom after 25 years.
?? Banned: Australia is set to become the first country to outlaw social media for under-16s.
?? Locked out: London’s legendary media haunt The Groucho Club was closed due to a report of “serious crime” on the premises.
?? Attention!: Hollywood’s go-to espionage and military advisor Paul Biddiss talked about his role in that Saoirse Ronan viral clip.
??? RIP: To reclusive Asian tycoon Ananda Krishnan, owner of Malaysian satcaster Astro, who passed away aged 86.
??? Trailer: For Saint Pierre, the buzzy Canadian police procedural set on a remote Atlantic island.
This week’s International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Max Goldbart. Zac Ntim contributed.
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