CCOBB vs TDF - CURRENT FOREIGN BOX OFFICE TOTALS

THIS IS WHY BRAD PITT IS AN INTERNATIONAL MOVIE STAR AND HIS 40-YEAR-OLD EX-WIFE IS A DELUSIONAL WANNABE MEGA MOVIE STAR...AND TRYING TO BE THE FIRST WOMAN OVER THE AGE OF 40 IN THE HISTORY OF FILM MAKING TO BECOME THE "MOST SUCCESSFUL/MOST SOUGHT-AFTER" LEADING LADY OF THE SILVER-SCREEN...AT AN AGE WHEN EVEN PROVEN MOVIE STARS LIKE JULIA ROBERTS, 1 YEAR HER SENIOR, CAN'T GET MOVIES GREENLIT ON JUST HER NAME ALONE ANYMORE.


The other day I think I told someone on JJ's (Shar?) that I would post a side-by-side comparison of the CCOBB and TDF foreign box office totals using the per-country breakdown that Box Office Mojo has. I created the spreadsheet below in Excel, then converted it to a JPG using Photoshop. All of that because the Blogger HTML software blows monkey chunks - and not the good Ben & Jerry's kind. Creating tables can be a pain in the arse.

Below the box office totals for each movie I put a chart that explains the color coding and also totals up the number of countries where the box office was over a specific amount - in increments of $5,000,000.

As you read through the numbers here are a couple of things to keep in mind -

- So-called movie experts said CCOBB would not break $100MIL domestically. Even though they gave it a slightly higher chance in international markets because of Brad's popularity, most experts did not think it would reach the $100MIL mark - let alone $200+MIL.

- TDF played in more markets than CCOBB. Based on the info at BOM, CCOBB did not play in these countries: Bahrain, Cyprus, Ethiopia (how ironic is that?), some parts of Eastern Africa (like Zambia), Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, the Lesser Antilles (Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Vincent), Oman, Puerto Rico (I find this hard to believe), Qatar, Slovakia and more irony, Vietnam.

- CCOBB played in only 1 territory that TDF didn't - Thailand.

- That means TDF played in 12 markets MORE than CCOBB

- If BOM's numbers are accurate, then as of April 12, 2009 the UK total for TDF is over $30MIL. The movie has only made $90MIL at foreign box offices. That means the UK is responsible for 1/3 of the TOTAL foreign BO for TDF. Viva La Hens de FF!

- Note for the trolls: CCOBB made $13.8MIL in the UK - less than half of what TDF has made. HOWEVER, CCOBB PLAYED IN THE UK AT THE SAME TIME AS "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE". TDF IS PLAYING 2 MONTHS AFTER BOTH CCOBB AND SLUMDOG. TDF DID NOT FACE ANY COMPETITION FROM ANY OF THE OSCAR NOMINATED FILMS. The current UK total for Slumdog is well over $45MIL, therefore Brits chose to support the home film rather than the import (CCOBB).

- Another note for the trolls: The UK is well-known for loving their four-legged friends. Buzz over to the AKC and Westminster sites and you'll see that a large number of popular dog breeds in the US originated in the UK, France, Germany and Asia. Not too surprisingly TDF did well in the UK and Germany...not so much France. The French just can't quite warm up to The Hag. Go figure.

- Lastly, a note about the numbers BOM uses. When I totaled up the spreadsheets I saw that the aggregate totals are higher than what BOM gives as the official (i.e., the studio's numbers) foreign BO total. So I e-mailed them to ask why it was like that. This is the reply I got back from them...names have been removed to protect my identity from the trollites...

"We use Fox's international total (he's referring to TDF's distributor). Their numbers are converted at the time they take the money literally to the bank, a time unknown to Box Office Mojo so that is why there is a slight difference in the numbers. When they film's run has finished in each country Fox's total will be entered."

In other words - BOM is using the estimates info that comes across the newswire and adjusts their numbers at the end of a film's run to reflect the real box office totals. Because of that, there was no update for CCOBB this week, even though TDF's total was updated. You'll also note that a lot of the "As of" dates for each country haven't been updated for a while on most of the countries. That's because the film may have finished its run in that country or BOM hasn't received an update from the studio in a while and will update the total later after the run has finished in all foreign markets.

I said all of that just to say...the real foreign box office totals won't be known for at least another 6 - 8 weeks. But for now - laugh yourselves silly. CCOBB TROUNCED TDF in every market they both played in, with the exception of 1 market - the UK...and all because it played at the same time as SDM. If you had plunked TDF in the slot CCOBB had - it wouldn't have made half of what it made by opening a month AFTER the Oscars.

- As I said, I got these numbers from BOM. The-Numbers.com actually updates their foreign BO twice a week and currently lists TDF at $92,128,041 as of today (April 16). That means TDF will likely break $100MIL...dammit...blame the Brits...

- Also - just saw the DVD sales numbers for TDF at The-Numbers.com, too - $28,232,118 (1,525,236 units) for its first week, and yes, it was #1 ( http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/MARLY-DVD.php)

By way of comparison -

- Wanted was #2 in its first week of sales...but it outsold TDF by $4+MIL - $32,626,651 (1,924,161 unites) (http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/WNTED-DVD.php)

- BAR was #4 in its first week of sales - $10,689,191 (629,146 units), which are excellent numbers for Cohen Brothers comedy.

Enough of my babblings...here's the Excel spreadsheet I did. Hopefully Blogger won't degrade the image quality too much. If you find it to blurry you can also view it here -

http://i41.tinypic.com/29b1spj.jpg

...or, I believe you can click on the image below and it will open in a new window...