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M O N D AY, F E B R U A RY 0 3 , 2 0 2 5
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK
ENDING FEBRUARY 2, 2025
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 2,
2025
A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide
gross. I begin with data from
Comscore and then pull from every other source available.
1. Ne Zha 2 –$446m worldwide debut
2. Detective Chinatown 1900– $260m worldwide debut
3. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$128m ww debut
4. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–$78m ww debut
5. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn– $60m ww debut
6. Dog Man– $41m ww debut
7. Operation Hadal–$34m / $35m ww total
8. Mufasa: The Lion King– $26m / $653m ww total
9. Paddington in Peru–$20m / $93m ww
10. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 –$16m /$463m ww
11. Companion– $15m ww debut
12. Moana 2– $11m / $1,037b ww
13. Babygirl– $11m / $48m ww
14. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$10m / $50m ww
15. One of Them Days– $10m / $35m ww
16. Flight Risk–$9m / $25m ww M I C H A E L G I LT Z AT W O R K
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached at
mgiltz@pipeline.com
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17. Hitman2–$9m / $13m ww
18. Nosferatu– $6m / $172m ww
19. The Brutalist– $6m / $18m ww
20. Conclave– $5m / $87m ww
21. Dark Nuns–$5m / $13m ww
22. A Complete Unknown–$4m / $78m ww
23. Presence– $4m / $7m ww
24. Octopus With Broken Arms aka Wu Sha 3 (Manslaughter 3)–$3m /
$133m ww
25. Wicked– $2m / $719m ww
26. Honey Money Phony–$2m / $64m ww
27. Wolf Man–$2m / $30m ww
28. Finist. The First Warrior–$2m / $26m ww
29. Better Man–$2m / $19m ww
30. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog–$3m / $5m ww total
31. Secret: Untold Melody–$2m ww debut
32. Gladiator II–$1m / $461m ww
33. Big World– $1m / $110m ww
34. Harbin–$1m / $32m ww
35. Brave The Dark–$1m / $4m ww
Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported
budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit
from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a
studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's
a good marker to indicate a big hit.
ANALYSIS
It's the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake is is supposed to be
inauspicious. But a snake may become the new mascot for the
worldwide box office thanks to the massive wave of moviegoers in
China. From Wednesday January 29 through Sunday February 2, the
Chinese box office alone grossed almost $1 BILLION. To be exact, it hit
$965.4m. Wow. True, the Chinese gov't subsidized ticket sales by
$83m, but that's less than 10% of the total gross over five days, so it
was money well spent.
And they did it the old fashioned way: lots of sequels! The third in the
animated Ne Zha- verse, the fourth in a buddy comedy series, theLiving/Rehab/Long...
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
FOR WEEK ENDING
FEBRUARY 23, ...
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Music Library Artist List F-J
Music Library Artist List K-O
Music Library Artist List P-S
Music Library Artist List T-Z
Music Library List Z+ Cast
Albums and Soundtracks
Music Library List Z+ Various
Artist Compilations
Music Library Album List Z+
Holiday Music/Christma...
Best Movies Of The Year -- #1
Pick For Each Year a...
MOVIES -- Everything: The
Good, The Bad and the Ugly
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(Partial) List Of ...
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WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
FOR WEEK ENDING
FEBRUARY 16, ...
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
FOR WEEK ENDING
FEBRUARY 9, 2025
FILM REVIEW: "A WOMAN IS
A WOMAN"
THEATER REVIEW: "STILL"
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
FOR WEEK ENDING
FEBRUARY 2, 2025
► January (6)
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second in a fantasy trilogy shot all at once a la Lord of the Rings, a
fantasy based on a classic tale and the eleventh in the Boonie Bears
kiddie franchise. This is very good news for the moribund Chinese box
office; let's hope it keeps going.
Back in Hollywood, we've got an original film: the animated family flick
Dog Man. Well, yes, it's based on a series of graphic novels (14 and
counting) and yes it's a spin-off of the Captain Underpants graphic
novels and yes that led to a hit film and a TV series and yes, it's
true Dog Man has also spun-off another series of graphic novels called
Cat Kid Comic Club and yes, you'd be placing a losing bet if you said
they'd surely never turn that into a movie. But still, it's an original film!
Sort of. Anyone who thinks Hollywood makes too many remakes and
sequels and spin-offs based on pre-existing stories or that people are
tiring of them need only refer to...the entire history of Hollywood,
including the silent era.
For Oscar hopefuls, The Brutalist and A Complete Unknown and
Conclave are capitalizing on their nominations. Maybe Emilia Pérez is
as well, but we won't know it's streaming numbers leading up to the
Oscars for a few weeks.
Oh and box office doesn't just come from massively budgeted tentpole
films. A lot of smaller films are scoring at the box office, proving the
talent of directors, building stars, giving a boost to writers and so on.
Those numbers add up. So high praise for Dog Man grossing its budget
on opening week, Paddington in Peru approaching $100m,
Companion proving a commercial and artistic hit, Babygirl making
clear it will triple its budget as it continues to play around the world,
One of Them Days proving the same and Nosferatu and The Brutalist
and Conclave and Soderbergh's Presence all proving hits.
A Complete Unknown isn't there yet, but it's doing well and all of these
films will over-perform once they hit the homes via streaming and
rental and cable and on demand and yes BluRay and the like. Mid-sized
and small budget movies are crucial to a healthy box office. Captain
America: Brave New World will open strongly on Valentine's Day, but
the box office isn't just sitting around waiting for a new blockbuster.
It's revealing talent, creating hits and priming the pump for home
entertainment. Anyone looking to shrink windows even further is being
foolish. And anyone spending $100mb to make a movie and not giving
them a theatrical release is losing out. Now let's wake up India and
Korea!
NOTES
mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide
1. Ne Zha 2– Reported $80mb. Chinese animated fantasy sequel to
the 2019 smash which cost about $20m and grossed $743m. A spin-off
film Jiang Ziya was hobbled by COVID but grossed $243m. Now the
direct sequel Ne Zha 2 cost $80m and our spunky heroine (based on a► 2023 (8)
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► 2018 (34)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (11)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
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► 2005 (5)3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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famed mythological character around for centuries) takes on sea
monsters. The series is based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu
Zhonglin from the 16th century.
2. Detective Chinatown 1900– $125mb at least? This is the fourth
in a wildly popular buddy comedy mystery series. Think oh, Rush
Hour? 48 Hours? Each film cost more than the one before and grossed
more. Since we're on film #4 and it's a period movie set in San
Francisco, it's safe to assume this cost more than the #3, which cost
$117m and grossed $686m worldwide. I mean, $150mb is probably
more realistic, at least. Assuming this doesn't collapse in week two,
$500m and profitability is assured. Oh and clues in this one indicate
the next film in the series will be set in London. So, Detective
Chinatown 1920, here we come .
3. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$110mb? Creation of the Gods
is a live action fantasy trilogy that was shot all at once over an 18 month
period, a la Lord of the Rings. Since the first part cost $110m,
presumably parts two and three cost at least as much, though their
initial releases were delayed because of time-consuming special effects.
And guess what? Like Ne Zha 1 and 2, this too is based on Investiture
of the Gods, making Ming dynasty author Xu Zhonglin the hottest
scribe in town. Yes, there are a handful of English translations of the
tales, but none of a single professional review and only one even has a
handful of reader reviews, so I would be wary. And I'm still waiting for
a good translation of the epic from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon was drawn.
4. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–No budget available. A
wuxia martial arts period adventure film written and directed by the
legendary Tsui Hark. It's based on part of the novel of the same name
by Jin Yong.
5. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn –$50mb? This once low budget
animated franchise keeps getting bigger and bigger at the box office.
Film #9 grossed $220m and #10 grossed $270m.
6. Dog Man– A reported $40mb. It's always good to gross your budget
on opening week. Plus, the books are funny, the reviews are good, the
audience response is great and it has the rest of the world to open in.
So get ready for Dog Man 2.
7. Operation Hadal–$150mb. In director Dante Lam's Chinese action
film, mercenaries have taken over a deep sea platform in Chinese
waters and well, the Chinese Navy is not about to take that lying down.
It's a sequel to Operation Red Sea which cost $70m and grossed almost
$600m. This cost twice as much and looks like it will struggle to gross
half as much. Not good.
8. Mufasa: The Lion King– $200mb
9. Paddington in Peru–$50mb? I'm just guessing. (That's sort of
midpoint between the original and Paddington 2.) Sadly, three times is
not the charm artistically for this once-perfect franchise. This week the
film had conflicting info. Comscore says the film grossed $6m this
weekend...but the movie's overall take jumped by $23m from $60m to3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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$83m? Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo claim its total jumped $13m to
$73m. That extra $7m from Monday to Thursday is more believable so
I'll go with that for now.
10. Sonic The Hedgehog 3– $120mb
11. Companion– A reported $10mb for this sci-fi horror comedy.
Great reviews means this one should have a long run at the box office.
12. Moana 2– Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first?
Or higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost
$150mb, just like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more
than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this.
13. Babygirl– $20mb for this Nicole Kidman sexy drama about a
powerful businesswoman finding her kink with a younger, dominating
man..her intern, no less! No milk was harmed in the making of this
movie.
14. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$40mb for Gerard Butler action flick.
15. One of Them Days– $14mb. It's always good to gross your budget
during a film's opening week. So yea for producer Issa Rae and this
comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA. (What a week for SZA! Her
movie opens well and she makes my list of The 250 Best Albums of the
21st Century...So Far.
16. Flight Risk–$25mb for director Mel Gibson action film starring
Mark Walhberg.
17. Hitman2–Korean action comedy. The creator of a webtoon series is
derided for the quality of his latest season...until real-life terrorists
seem to mirror his storyline and he's suddenly under suspicion by the
government. The original film grossed $18m.
18. Nosferatu– $50mb for Robert Eggers, acclaimed director of The
Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. That had his biggest budget
and was not a commercial success. I saw him as more of an arthouse
guy. But backers stuck with him, gave him a big budget and a starry
cast for a remake of Nosferatu, which I guess is classier than
remaking Dracula but still a hard sell I thought. And on Christmas
Day? That's counter-programming I was not behind. Happily, I was
wrong and Eggers looks more like the next Peter Jackson/Guillermo
Del Toro than a guy given big budgets too fast or for the wrong
projects. Good for him!
19. The Brutalist–$10mb; Adrien Brody in this architect-as-hero period
drama.
20. Conclave– a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means this
is a hit. It's at $60m and still going strong, with a boost from potential
Oscar noms. I do not see the point in putting it on PVOD and flooding
the market with bootlegs while potentially harming box office. This is
exactly the sort of film that can play and play in theaters. 3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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21. Dark Nuns–Korean supernatural thriller w two nuns working
together to save a boy seemingly possessed by a demon while
protecting the sanctity of their order. It's a spin-off of The
Priests aka Black Priests, which came out in 2015 and grossed $36m.
Why it took a decade to capitalize on the first film is a mystery itself.
22. A Complete Unknown–$60mb+ for this Bob Dylan biopic? That's a
lot of money for a film about Dylan going electric at Newport. I mean, I
want to see it but then I'm a Dylan fanatic. Off to a very good start and
star Timotheé Chalamet is sure to get an Oscar nomination, so it
should keep going. But $180m worldwide seems highly unlikely to me,
if not impossible. (Do other countries give a toss about this? Is
Chalamet a big enough draw for this story? I doubt it.) I'm glad it was
made, but it was made for too much. Like Gladiator II, this will be seen
as a commercial success, but it's not.
23. Presence– $2mb for retired director Steven Soderbergh's first of
two movies out in 2025.
24. Octopus With Broken Arms aka Wu Sha 3 (Manslaughter 3)–
Chinese drama about businessman's daughter kidnapped from his
home.
25. Wicked– $150mb for each part, so $300mb total plus beaucoup
marketing. It's a big movie!
26. Honey Money Phony–Chinese rom-com about young woman
suddenly burdened with debt who falls for a (very handsome) young
con man. Will he go straight for her or teach her his wicked ways so she
can get out from under this financial disaster?
27. Wolf Man–$25mb
28. Finist. The First Warrior–a Russian fantasy film starring actor
Kirill Zaytsev as "the strongest, most agile, and handsome hero of
Belogorye," according to Wikipedia. Zaytsev certainly fits the bill,
though since Belogorye currently has fewer than 3000 people, that may
not be such a major claim. Russians are surely starved for homegrown
cinema; it's been a while since Russian films made the charts. But I
couldn't even find a trailer for it on YouTube.
29. Better Man–$110mb!!! I just gasped when I saw the budget. Oh
dear. I love the craziness of this movie. But that's a LOT of money for
such a nutty idea. And forget the nutty idea. It's a musical biopic about
an artist whose music I really like but has virtually no profile outside
the UK. For heaven's sake, Queen is one of the biggest acts in the world
and their biopic cost literally half of this one. Better Man would have
been a big gamble at $30mb.
30. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog–This German light
mystery is the second live action film in a reboot of the teen
investigators that are perennial favorites in kids lit in that country. It's
spun-off from the series of books published in the 1960s-1980s in the
US, all branded as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" but created by Robert
Author, with the first nine books of 40+ in all also written by him.
Basically, it's the Hardy Boys but with three kids instead of two. The3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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series remains well known in Germany, where even more books were
written to meet demand. And now it's a film series.
31. Secret: Untold Melody–SK drama remake of a Taiwanese weepie
about a pianist whose career is cut short by tragedy...but he finds
comfort from a time-traveling woman.
32. Gladiator II–$250mb for Ridley Scott sword and sandals epic. It
needs $750m worldwide for me to call it a hit from theatrical alone but
$600m would be just fine. It's got swords. It's got sandals. Does it have
legs? No, it does not. This is the sort of film that everyone thinks of as a
hit, but actually didn't deliver. The talk of Gladiator 3 is nonsense.
Maybe many years from now they'll use the name to launch a new
franchise, but this is the end for now.
33. Big World– $29m ww debut. Chinese drama starring pop star and
actor Jackson Yee as a young man living with cerebral palsy. Yee has
gone from boyband TFBoys to having the Mandarin song of the year in
2017 to success in TV and film. How's his English, asks Hollywood?
34. Harbin–A South Korean historical drama set in the early 1900s
about rebels fighting against the Japanese occupation of Korea. When
one rebel leader shows mercy to Japanese prisoners and his men pay
the price, he vows to redeem himself by assassinating the first Prime
Minister of Japan. So this one will probably not have a good run in
Japan.
35. Brave The Dark–no budget for presumably very low cost faith-
based indie film about the importance of performing arts programs?
THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED
This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the
world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore,
Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for
countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in
trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else
discussing box office.
ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart
The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters
around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a
Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through
Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it
opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever,
depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one
day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the
box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday
through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend
and focusing on new releases?
How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box
office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total
worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past
seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through
the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence
on other outlets for the basic info. 3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK
ENDING FEBRUARY 2, 2025
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 2,
2025
A film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide
gross. I begin with data from
Comscore and then pull from every other source available.
1. Ne Zha 2 –$446m worldwide debut
2. Detective Chinatown 1900– $260m worldwide debut
3. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$128m ww debut
4. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–$78m ww debut
5. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn– $60m ww debut
6. Dog Man– $41m ww debut
7. Operation Hadal–$34m / $35m ww total
8. Mufasa: The Lion King– $26m / $653m ww total
9. Paddington in Peru–$20m / $93m ww
10. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 –$16m /$463m ww
11. Companion– $15m ww debut
12. Moana 2– $11m / $1,037b ww
13. Babygirl– $11m / $48m ww
14. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$10m / $50m ww
15. One of Them Days– $10m / $35m ww
16. Flight Risk–$9m / $25m ww M I C H A E L G I LT Z AT W O R K
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached at
mgiltz@pipeline.com
FAV O R I T E L I N K S
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blog
Deep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
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Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
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17. Hitman2–$9m / $13m ww
18. Nosferatu– $6m / $172m ww
19. The Brutalist– $6m / $18m ww
20. Conclave– $5m / $87m ww
21. Dark Nuns–$5m / $13m ww
22. A Complete Unknown–$4m / $78m ww
23. Presence– $4m / $7m ww
24. Octopus With Broken Arms aka Wu Sha 3 (Manslaughter 3)–$3m /
$133m ww
25. Wicked– $2m / $719m ww
26. Honey Money Phony–$2m / $64m ww
27. Wolf Man–$2m / $30m ww
28. Finist. The First Warrior–$2m / $26m ww
29. Better Man–$2m / $19m ww
30. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog–$3m / $5m ww total
31. Secret: Untold Melody–$2m ww debut
32. Gladiator II–$1m / $461m ww
33. Big World– $1m / $110m ww
34. Harbin–$1m / $32m ww
35. Brave The Dark–$1m / $4m ww
Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported
budgets. That's my standard for a movie being a box office hit
from theatrical alone. Many films will be profitable for a
studio even if they don't triple their reported budget, but it's
a good marker to indicate a big hit.
ANALYSIS
It's the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake is is supposed to be
inauspicious. But a snake may become the new mascot for the
worldwide box office thanks to the massive wave of moviegoers in
China. From Wednesday January 29 through Sunday February 2, the
Chinese box office alone grossed almost $1 BILLION. To be exact, it hit
$965.4m. Wow. True, the Chinese gov't subsidized ticket sales by
$83m, but that's less than 10% of the total gross over five days, so it
was money well spent.
And they did it the old fashioned way: lots of sequels! The third in the
animated Ne Zha- verse, the fourth in a buddy comedy series, theLiving/Rehab/Long...
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
FOR WEEK ENDING
FEBRUARY 23, ...
TV and Film Must Watch List
Best Albums Of The Year -- 1924
To The Present
Music Library Artist List A-E
Music Library Artist List F-J
Music Library Artist List K-O
Music Library Artist List P-S
Music Library Artist List T-Z
Music Library List Z+ Cast
Albums and Soundtracks
Music Library List Z+ Various
Artist Compilations
Music Library Album List Z+
Holiday Music/Christma...
Best Movies Of The Year -- #1
Pick For Each Year a...
MOVIES -- Everything: The
Good, The Bad and the Ugly
NYCD Cheat Sheet
The Best Books Of All Time -- A
(Partial) List Of ...
The Best Books Of All Time -- A
(Partial) List Of ...
Best TV Shows Of All Time -- A
Partial List Of My ...
Best Theater Of All Time -- A
(Partial) List Of Al...
1939: The Greatest Year For
Movies
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
FOR WEEK ENDING
FEBRUARY 16, ...
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
FOR WEEK ENDING
FEBRUARY 9, 2025
FILM REVIEW: "A WOMAN IS
A WOMAN"
THEATER REVIEW: "STILL"
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
FOR WEEK ENDING
FEBRUARY 2, 2025
► January (6)
► 2024 (37)3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
https://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2025/02/worldwide-box-office-for-w eek-ending.html 2/8
second in a fantasy trilogy shot all at once a la Lord of the Rings, a
fantasy based on a classic tale and the eleventh in the Boonie Bears
kiddie franchise. This is very good news for the moribund Chinese box
office; let's hope it keeps going.
Back in Hollywood, we've got an original film: the animated family flick
Dog Man. Well, yes, it's based on a series of graphic novels (14 and
counting) and yes it's a spin-off of the Captain Underpants graphic
novels and yes that led to a hit film and a TV series and yes, it's
true Dog Man has also spun-off another series of graphic novels called
Cat Kid Comic Club and yes, you'd be placing a losing bet if you said
they'd surely never turn that into a movie. But still, it's an original film!
Sort of. Anyone who thinks Hollywood makes too many remakes and
sequels and spin-offs based on pre-existing stories or that people are
tiring of them need only refer to...the entire history of Hollywood,
including the silent era.
For Oscar hopefuls, The Brutalist and A Complete Unknown and
Conclave are capitalizing on their nominations. Maybe Emilia Pérez is
as well, but we won't know it's streaming numbers leading up to the
Oscars for a few weeks.
Oh and box office doesn't just come from massively budgeted tentpole
films. A lot of smaller films are scoring at the box office, proving the
talent of directors, building stars, giving a boost to writers and so on.
Those numbers add up. So high praise for Dog Man grossing its budget
on opening week, Paddington in Peru approaching $100m,
Companion proving a commercial and artistic hit, Babygirl making
clear it will triple its budget as it continues to play around the world,
One of Them Days proving the same and Nosferatu and The Brutalist
and Conclave and Soderbergh's Presence all proving hits.
A Complete Unknown isn't there yet, but it's doing well and all of these
films will over-perform once they hit the homes via streaming and
rental and cable and on demand and yes BluRay and the like. Mid-sized
and small budget movies are crucial to a healthy box office. Captain
America: Brave New World will open strongly on Valentine's Day, but
the box office isn't just sitting around waiting for a new blockbuster.
It's revealing talent, creating hits and priming the pump for home
entertainment. Anyone looking to shrink windows even further is being
foolish. And anyone spending $100mb to make a movie and not giving
them a theatrical release is losing out. Now let's wake up India and
Korea!
NOTES
mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide
1. Ne Zha 2– Reported $80mb. Chinese animated fantasy sequel to
the 2019 smash which cost about $20m and grossed $743m. A spin-off
film Jiang Ziya was hobbled by COVID but grossed $243m. Now the
direct sequel Ne Zha 2 cost $80m and our spunky heroine (based on a► 2023 (8)
► 2022 (6)
► 2021 (8)
► 2020 (7)
► 2019 (93)
► 2018 (34)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (11)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2405)
► 2005 (5)3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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famed mythological character around for centuries) takes on sea
monsters. The series is based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu
Zhonglin from the 16th century.
2. Detective Chinatown 1900– $125mb at least? This is the fourth
in a wildly popular buddy comedy mystery series. Think oh, Rush
Hour? 48 Hours? Each film cost more than the one before and grossed
more. Since we're on film #4 and it's a period movie set in San
Francisco, it's safe to assume this cost more than the #3, which cost
$117m and grossed $686m worldwide. I mean, $150mb is probably
more realistic, at least. Assuming this doesn't collapse in week two,
$500m and profitability is assured. Oh and clues in this one indicate
the next film in the series will be set in London. So, Detective
Chinatown 1920, here we come .
3. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force–$110mb? Creation of the Gods
is a live action fantasy trilogy that was shot all at once over an 18 month
period, a la Lord of the Rings. Since the first part cost $110m,
presumably parts two and three cost at least as much, though their
initial releases were delayed because of time-consuming special effects.
And guess what? Like Ne Zha 1 and 2, this too is based on Investiture
of the Gods, making Ming dynasty author Xu Zhonglin the hottest
scribe in town. Yes, there are a handful of English translations of the
tales, but none of a single professional review and only one even has a
handful of reader reviews, so I would be wary. And I'm still waiting for
a good translation of the epic from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon was drawn.
4. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–No budget available. A
wuxia martial arts period adventure film written and directed by the
legendary Tsui Hark. It's based on part of the novel of the same name
by Jin Yong.
5. Boonie Bears: Future Reborn –$50mb? This once low budget
animated franchise keeps getting bigger and bigger at the box office.
Film #9 grossed $220m and #10 grossed $270m.
6. Dog Man– A reported $40mb. It's always good to gross your budget
on opening week. Plus, the books are funny, the reviews are good, the
audience response is great and it has the rest of the world to open in.
So get ready for Dog Man 2.
7. Operation Hadal–$150mb. In director Dante Lam's Chinese action
film, mercenaries have taken over a deep sea platform in Chinese
waters and well, the Chinese Navy is not about to take that lying down.
It's a sequel to Operation Red Sea which cost $70m and grossed almost
$600m. This cost twice as much and looks like it will struggle to gross
half as much. Not good.
8. Mufasa: The Lion King– $200mb
9. Paddington in Peru–$50mb? I'm just guessing. (That's sort of
midpoint between the original and Paddington 2.) Sadly, three times is
not the charm artistically for this once-perfect franchise. This week the
film had conflicting info. Comscore says the film grossed $6m this
weekend...but the movie's overall take jumped by $23m from $60m to3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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$83m? Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo claim its total jumped $13m to
$73m. That extra $7m from Monday to Thursday is more believable so
I'll go with that for now.
10. Sonic The Hedgehog 3– $120mb
11. Companion– A reported $10mb for this sci-fi horror comedy.
Great reviews means this one should have a long run at the box office.
12. Moana 2– Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first?
Or higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost
$150mb, just like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more
than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this.
13. Babygirl– $20mb for this Nicole Kidman sexy drama about a
powerful businesswoman finding her kink with a younger, dominating
man..her intern, no less! No milk was harmed in the making of this
movie.
14. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera–$40mb for Gerard Butler action flick.
15. One of Them Days– $14mb. It's always good to gross your budget
during a film's opening week. So yea for producer Issa Rae and this
comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA. (What a week for SZA! Her
movie opens well and she makes my list of The 250 Best Albums of the
21st Century...So Far.
16. Flight Risk–$25mb for director Mel Gibson action film starring
Mark Walhberg.
17. Hitman2–Korean action comedy. The creator of a webtoon series is
derided for the quality of his latest season...until real-life terrorists
seem to mirror his storyline and he's suddenly under suspicion by the
government. The original film grossed $18m.
18. Nosferatu– $50mb for Robert Eggers, acclaimed director of The
Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. That had his biggest budget
and was not a commercial success. I saw him as more of an arthouse
guy. But backers stuck with him, gave him a big budget and a starry
cast for a remake of Nosferatu, which I guess is classier than
remaking Dracula but still a hard sell I thought. And on Christmas
Day? That's counter-programming I was not behind. Happily, I was
wrong and Eggers looks more like the next Peter Jackson/Guillermo
Del Toro than a guy given big budgets too fast or for the wrong
projects. Good for him!
19. The Brutalist–$10mb; Adrien Brody in this architect-as-hero period
drama.
20. Conclave– a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means this
is a hit. It's at $60m and still going strong, with a boost from potential
Oscar noms. I do not see the point in putting it on PVOD and flooding
the market with bootlegs while potentially harming box office. This is
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21. Dark Nuns–Korean supernatural thriller w two nuns working
together to save a boy seemingly possessed by a demon while
protecting the sanctity of their order. It's a spin-off of The
Priests aka Black Priests, which came out in 2015 and grossed $36m.
Why it took a decade to capitalize on the first film is a mystery itself.
22. A Complete Unknown–$60mb+ for this Bob Dylan biopic? That's a
lot of money for a film about Dylan going electric at Newport. I mean, I
want to see it but then I'm a Dylan fanatic. Off to a very good start and
star Timotheé Chalamet is sure to get an Oscar nomination, so it
should keep going. But $180m worldwide seems highly unlikely to me,
if not impossible. (Do other countries give a toss about this? Is
Chalamet a big enough draw for this story? I doubt it.) I'm glad it was
made, but it was made for too much. Like Gladiator II, this will be seen
as a commercial success, but it's not.
23. Presence– $2mb for retired director Steven Soderbergh's first of
two movies out in 2025.
24. Octopus With Broken Arms aka Wu Sha 3 (Manslaughter 3)–
Chinese drama about businessman's daughter kidnapped from his
home.
25. Wicked– $150mb for each part, so $300mb total plus beaucoup
marketing. It's a big movie!
26. Honey Money Phony–Chinese rom-com about young woman
suddenly burdened with debt who falls for a (very handsome) young
con man. Will he go straight for her or teach her his wicked ways so she
can get out from under this financial disaster?
27. Wolf Man–$25mb
28. Finist. The First Warrior–a Russian fantasy film starring actor
Kirill Zaytsev as "the strongest, most agile, and handsome hero of
Belogorye," according to Wikipedia. Zaytsev certainly fits the bill,
though since Belogorye currently has fewer than 3000 people, that may
not be such a major claim. Russians are surely starved for homegrown
cinema; it's been a while since Russian films made the charts. But I
couldn't even find a trailer for it on YouTube.
29. Better Man–$110mb!!! I just gasped when I saw the budget. Oh
dear. I love the craziness of this movie. But that's a LOT of money for
such a nutty idea. And forget the nutty idea. It's a musical biopic about
an artist whose music I really like but has virtually no profile outside
the UK. For heaven's sake, Queen is one of the biggest acts in the world
and their biopic cost literally half of this one. Better Man would have
been a big gamble at $30mb.
30. The Three Investigators: Carpathian Dog–This German light
mystery is the second live action film in a reboot of the teen
investigators that are perennial favorites in kids lit in that country. It's
spun-off from the series of books published in the 1960s-1980s in the
US, all branded as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" but created by Robert
Author, with the first nine books of 40+ in all also written by him.
Basically, it's the Hardy Boys but with three kids instead of two. The3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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series remains well known in Germany, where even more books were
written to meet demand. And now it's a film series.
31. Secret: Untold Melody–SK drama remake of a Taiwanese weepie
about a pianist whose career is cut short by tragedy...but he finds
comfort from a time-traveling woman.
32. Gladiator II–$250mb for Ridley Scott sword and sandals epic. It
needs $750m worldwide for me to call it a hit from theatrical alone but
$600m would be just fine. It's got swords. It's got sandals. Does it have
legs? No, it does not. This is the sort of film that everyone thinks of as a
hit, but actually didn't deliver. The talk of Gladiator 3 is nonsense.
Maybe many years from now they'll use the name to launch a new
franchise, but this is the end for now.
33. Big World– $29m ww debut. Chinese drama starring pop star and
actor Jackson Yee as a young man living with cerebral palsy. Yee has
gone from boyband TFBoys to having the Mandarin song of the year in
2017 to success in TV and film. How's his English, asks Hollywood?
34. Harbin–A South Korean historical drama set in the early 1900s
about rebels fighting against the Japanese occupation of Korea. When
one rebel leader shows mercy to Japanese prisoners and his men pay
the price, he vows to redeem himself by assassinating the first Prime
Minister of Japan. So this one will probably not have a good run in
Japan.
35. Brave The Dark–no budget for presumably very low cost faith-
based indie film about the importance of performing arts programs?
THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED
This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the
world. It is compiled by pulling from every possible source: ComScore,
Box Office Mojo, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, charts for
countries like China and India and South Korea, individual stories in
trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else
discussing box office.
ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart
The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters
around the world during the last seven days. If a movie opens on a
Thursday, we include all the box office from Thursday through
Sunday. If it opens on a Tuesday night, we cover all six days. If it
opens on a Sunday (as some movies do in India or wherever,
depending on holidays), then we include the box office for that one
day. If a movie was released before the current week, we include the
box office for all seven days. Why ignore the box office from Monday
through Thursday, as most charts do when tallying the latest weekend
and focusing on new releases?
How do we arrive at this number? We take the total worldwide box
office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous week's total
worldwide box office...and that's how much it made during the past
seven days. Naturally, territories and movies sometimes fall through
the cracks but we are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence
on other outlets for the basic info. 3/24/25, 2:56 PM POPSURFING.COM: WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUAR Y 2, 2025
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