Warner Bros. checked in this morning with their weekly Tenet update, confirming the film has surpassed the $300 million global box office threshold. Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi tentpole added $14.2 million worldwide from 59 markets this weekend, including $2.7 million domestically, to reach an estimated $307 million through Sunday.
That $2.7 million North American haul, in the film’s sixth weekend of release (counting Canada’s early opening in August), is down 21 percent from last weekend (per the studio’s email) and lifts the domestic total to $45.1 million.
Although the circumstances are stark in contrast, Tenet is technically the first film to reign atop the domestic box office for five straight weekends since Black Panther in early 2018. It may be the sixth for Nolan’s film (again, Canada’s first weekend earnings remain unconfirmed), which would make it the first hit such a streak since Avatar.
The studio reports an estimated 20 percent of the domestic marketplace remains closed. Playing at 2,722 locations this weekend, Tenet‘s top performing theaters included five drive-ins (one in San Francisco, one in Los Angeles, one in Sacramento, and two in Toronto). The other top five were hard-top venues (two in San Francisco and three in Los Angeles).
Among DMAs, Tenet‘s best showings came from Los Angeles, greater San Francisco, Dallas, Toronto, Chicago, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Houston, and New York, in that order.
California continues to come back online, although approximately 76 percent remains closed, including Los Angeles. Overall, eight of the top ten performing locations this weekend were based in California.
32 percent of Tenet‘s domestic box office has been generated by PLF formats, led by IMAX.
Internationally, Tenet is taking in an estimated $11.5 million this weekend to reach a $262 million overseas cume. The top market (outside North America) is Japan with another $2.5 million in its third frame, down just 18 percent from last weekend.
Warner’s international highlights on Nolan’s film include:
- Total international admissions are an estimated 33-plus million to date.
- Holds were excellent across the board, with the overall weekend dropping only 29 percent (24 percent excluding China).
- Key market drops were once again outstanding including the UK (down 4 percent), Australia (down 8 percent), Korea (down 8 percent), Japan (down 18 percent), Germany (down 24 percent), France (down 25 percent), Mexico (down 26 percent) and Italy (down 39 percent).
- IMAX produced another $1.4 million for the weekend from international markets, bringing the IMAX overseas total to $29.3 million. This represents 11 percent of total international box office.
- Tenet is now the all-time highest grossing foreign film in Estonia with $1.2 million, where the film was partially shot.
- Tenet is also tracking as the highest grossing Christopher Nolan film ever in Ukraine, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
- Tenet still has 24 international markets yet to release including Brazil, Argentina, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. This week the film releases in Bolivia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Tenet‘s Top Global Markets This Weekend
| Territory | WK # | WE BO | WE BO | Drop % | Screens | Cume | Cume | |
| (LC) | (USD) | (LC) | (USD) | |||||
|
5 | $2.7m | $2.7m | -0.21 | 2,722 (locations) | $45.1m | $45.1m | |
| Japan | 3 | ¥258.3m | $2.5m | -0.18 | 488 | ¥1.7b | $15.9m | |
| France | 6 | €958k | $1.1m | -0.25 | 868 | €16.9m | $20.0m | |
| Germany | 6 | €893k | $1.0m | -0.24 | 1000 | €13.6m | $16.1m | |
| United Kingdom | 6 | £625k | $804k | -0.04 | 712 | £15.9m | $20.9m | |
| Korea | 6 | Won 878.1m | $755k | -0.08 | 573 | Won 16.8b | $14.2m |
Tenet’s Top Global Markets by Total Gross to Date
| Territory | Cume | Cume | |
| LC | USD | ||
|
CNY 447.9m | $65.5m | |
| Domestic (U.S./Canada) | $45.1m | $45.1m | |
| United Kingdom | £15.9m | $20.9m | |
| France | €16.9m | $20.0m | |
| Germany | €13.6m | $16.1m | |
| Japan | ¥1.7b | $15.9m | |
| Korea | Won 16.8b | $14.2m | |
| Taiwan | NT$ 326.3m | $11.1m | |
| Russia | RBL 793.3m | $10.5m | |
| Spain | €7.0m | $8.2m | |
| Australia | A$10.8m | $7.8m | |
| Italy | €6.4m | $7.6m | |
| Holland | €6.3m | $7.5m |
Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification Strong in China
IMAX further reported this morning that Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification performing exceptionally well during the National Holiday in China.
The film opened to $11.5 million from IMAX alone in the Middle Kingdom, giving it the IMAX China records for top single day and opening weekend performances during the National Holidays, best opening day and opening weekend for an animated title, and best October opening weekend for a local title. It’s also the second highest IMAX opening weekend ever for a local title in China, trailing only The Wandering Earth.
IMAX’s box office in China is up 25 percent over the same weekend last year.
Domestic Highlights: Hocus Pocus Surprises
Outside of Tenet, another highlight this weekend came from Disney’s re-issue of 1993’s Hocus Pocus. Announced late last week as a release in 2,570 theaters, the classic Halloween film over-performed with a $1.925 million estimated frame.
In third place, The New Mutants added $1 million, down just 15 percent, in its sixth weekend to reach $20.9 million domestically. The film’s $900K international weekend lifts the global cume to $41.9 million.
Meanwhile, Unhinged posted another soft decline of just 10 percent with $870K this weekend, now standing at $18.4 million domestically. The Empire Strikes Back re-issue fell sharply with a 63 percent drop to $335K, having lost 422 theaters this weekend.
Among new releases, Possessor opened to $227.5K from 320 locations for Neon, Save Yourselves! pulled a $142K debut from 388 theaters for Bleecker Street, and IFC Films’ A Call to Spy earned $40K from 75 venues.
Disney to Pause Global Reporting Again
Last but not least, Disney further underlined the challenging fall season ahead for the box office with a sour bit of news. Included in their update this morning was the announcement that the studio will “pause global box office grosses for now and recommence Sunday reporting when our next significant title opens globally.”
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