Welcome back to my formerly weekly series chronicling the highlights of the international box office. First off, I have an announcement to make: in recognition of my failure to complete a report on last week’s international highlights, as well as the general strain preparing this series represents, I have decided to shift it to a biweekly schedule for now. Additionally, I have decided to add a new ‘Focus On:’ section under my non-major territory analysis, which will examine the weekend box office and box office trends of one non-major territory of my choice every other week. With all that out of the way, let's get to it!

Major Territories:

Australia: The Land Down Under was the first of many where Avengers: Endgame was, for all intents and purposes, the only game in town. The climatic MCU team-up smashed all the records with a $24,010,504 debut on 1,112 (presumably screens) over the proper box office weekend. There’s one single superlative that suffices to describe this incredible start: it’s easily the foremost opening in Australian box office history, without even counting the additional $7,233,132 Endgame minted on its April 24 opening day. That OD was higher than Infinity War’s even though the latter was released on Anzac Day. In total, Endgame had grossed $31,243,636 by the end of the box office weekend, versus Avengers: Infinity War’s $22,698,063, and $20,596,568 for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Against Endgame’s overwhelming might, even family movies didn’t feel so good. Wonder Park was the best of the lot, merely dropping 37%, but with $4,131,321 to date after a $482,592 third weekend, it won’t match Sherlock Gnomes.

Brazil: Endgame Marveled many Brazilians, making the act of breaking records look easy with a $26,363,627 total opening on 3,090 screens. Infinity War made a “mere” $19,062,450 in its opening last year, and that difference is further exacerbated in local currency terms. With an estimated $44.2 million overall total as of May 2, Endgame has already reached Brazil’s all time top 10 in US dollars, let alone in local currency in a country where the Brazilian real’s value has plunged by half since 2012. Meanwhile, all the holdovers slid as hard as you might expect – of them, Breakthrough has been a modest standout with $4,886,342 at the end of its third weekend, while The Curse of La Llorona has tanked with just $1,178,106 through ten days.

France: Fourth all-time, and second for a non-local movie, only behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. That’s where Endgame’s monolithic $24,971,474 opening at 633 theaters placed on the charts in this traditionally idiosyncratic market. It was actually the very frontloaded original Avengers ($19,035,088) rather than Infinity War ($17,645,304) which held the previous MCU opening record in France. Behind Endgame were a few highlights among the holdovers, unlike much of the rest of the world. After dropped a steep 55% to make $1,853,337 at 517 theaters in its sophomore frame; however, its $6,843,330 total to date is only behind Twilight among original teen romances through the same point.

Family movies occupied the next three slots, defying Endgame’s might with weekend-on-weekend increases, thanks to a combination of the cold and dreary weather that predominated in Western Europe over the weekend ending April 28 (versus warmth and sunshine over the previous weekend) and ongoing school holidays in parts of France. Wonder Park surged from sixth to third with a whopping 45% increase to $1,544,012 at 767 theaters in its fourth weekend. At $9,003,966 in total, France is easily the movie’s standout territory. Dumbo followed in fourth over its fifth frame, flying to $14,327,023 to date, while The Queen’s Corgi had the best increase of the weekend, digging up $4,746,685 through 19 days. Finally, The Curse of La Llorona has done as expected for a major original horror movie in France, scaring up $3,777,824 through its twelfth day, despite screening at only 230 theaters last weekend.

Germany: Even the normally superhero-adverse Deutschland felt the Endgame mania, with a staggering $27,108,549 total opening. That was second all-time when excluding The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’s full week sum, only marginally behind The Force Awakens, and an astonishing 77% ahead of Infinity War’s previous MCU record. Holdovers didn’t suffer, though; putting into perspective the impact of weather, quite the opposite happened, with a majority of the top 10 increasing weekend-on-weekend. Notable holdover cumes to date: After ($7,067,338), French comedy sequel Serial (Bad) Weddings 2 ($7,891,737), Wonder Park ($2,547,889 after a 196% increase), Dumbo ($5,218,938), and Pet Sematary ($4,234,154).

India: Endgame’s $26,757,337 opening reportedly took second place all-time, only behind Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, and ahead of every Bollywood movie in history. It was also 45% above Infinity War’s $18,464,603 start. Fox’s latest Bollywood effort (via subsidiary Fox Star Studios), period drama Kalank, wasn’t so lucky, buckling 94% – steep even by Indian standards – over its sophomore frame. With $12,275,823 to date, it’s considered a major flop after failing to exceed its production budget.

Italy: So complete was Endgame’s dominance that no holdover data would be worth reporting, even if BOM had any about high-placing releases. To put it into perspective, Endgame’s $19,570,574 five-day total opening was roughly equivalent to the entire weekend grosses of two average Italian weekends combined. At 78%, Italy also bettered Germany’s percent improvement over Infinity War’s $10,983,836 total opening as the best for a major territory. However, that total opening was still a ways behind the record-holding local movie Sun in Buckets, which made $25,095,006 over just three days.

Japan: A competition-crowded Japan (thanks to the several days of holidays throughout Golden Week and more that started last weekend) was almost certainly Endgame’s lowlight, but $13,176,307 in just three days is a sum that any ordinary blockbuster would kill for, especially in a market as inconsistent as Japan is for Hollywood fare. That was also 45% ahead of Infinity War’s $9,075,979 three-day opening. In second, Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire, the latest in a major local annualized animated series, had no firm actuals to report thanks to the ongoing holidays, but based on estimates, it’s now the second highest-grossing of its series and will almost certainly take the series record.

Mexico: Naturally, Endgame terminated the competition, scoring a whopping $31,905,293 in its opening weekend, for another all-time record. Infinity War held the previous record, and Endgame bested its $25,382,566 start by 26%. In second, The Curse of La Llorona buckled by 71%, grossing another $1,087,772 in its second weekend. Its $8,380,065 total to date is behind every other Conjuring universe movie through the same point, but it’s otherwise good for horror. Local comedy sequel No Manches Frida 2 rounded out the top three in its third weekend; its total of $14,605,709 to date is the third best on record for a local movie, behind only Instructions Not Included and The Noble Family.

Russia-CIS: Unlike the rest of the world, the weekend ending April 28 was bled dry by a deadly one-two punch of no Endgame (which opened on Monday, April 29 thanks to the Russian government’s mandated local protection period, beating Infinity War’s opening with an estimated $24.1 million in its first four days) and Orthodox Easter. Local crime comedy Billion won merely by default with $1,293,134 on 1,756 screens in its second weekend, for a total of $4,615,534 to date. After was second, accumulating $2,847,318 through eleven days, while The Curse of La Llorona rounded out the top three, chilling to $1,878,971 in the same time.

South Korea: Let’s just state the most important part first: $46,940,721. That, of course, is how much Endgame made in its record-breaking five-day opening – 20% ahead of the previous record-holder Infinity War through the same point. While it’s hard to say that it was truly relevant in comparison to the behemoth on top, local animated sequel Pororo 5: Treasure Island Adventure nonetheless dared to try its luck against Thanos and the Avengers, and was rewarded with a $1,727,254 total debut on 736 screens ahead of the Labor Day holidays. However, that was a bit lower than its predecessor’s $2,274,834 total start.

Spain: Endgame was that oddest of ducks: an opening over $10 million in a country where a $10 million total is impressive. With $13,440,594 overall, its opening of course compared very favorably to its predecessor (56% up, to be exact), and like Italy, it roughly equaled the total takes of two typical weekends, combined. Local drug-themed comedy I Can Quit Whenever I Want fell to second against this tough competition, but it’s thriving overall, with $7,563,836 in total after an Easter bump. Finally, after a 70% plunge, Dumbo likely won’t match Maleficent’s $17,180,614 total, but at $15,258,728 to date, Spain nonetheless counts as one of the flying elephant remake’s strongest territories.

Selected Non-Major Territory Highlights:

Endgame Mania: This one will be in table form, showcasing Endgame’s biggest and most notable openings in non-major territories, the margin of improvement over Infinity War, and whether or not the opening set the all-time record. TL;DR: Endgame fared very, very well.

Focus On: Nigeria: Fittingly for a rapidly-growing country of 200 million people, Nigeria’s box office has seen explosive improvement over the last five years. However, I specifically chose to spotlight it first because of the recent emergence of a consistent Nigerian box office source for the first time ever.

To start with, here’s the ten highest-grossing movies with available data, in local currency because, as Nigerian resident /u/TheMoneySnake says, “[Also] we have a bit of a Brazil situation here with our $ exchange rate, simply put, in 2013 our currency(the Naira) had three times the value but we probably have five times more moviegoers compared to 2013 . the industry has been growing rapidly for some years now and it's showing no signs of stopping, it'll take a two or three decades before we have movies grossing $50M though, the highest grossing film currently(BP 806M Naira) made $2.3M, endgame may get $3M.”:

1. 806,000,000 (est.) Black Panther
2. 500,000,000 (est.) The Wedding Party 2: Destination Dubai [local romantic comedy]
3. 453,050,000 (est.) The Wedding Party [local romantic comedy]
4. 452,059,079 Aquaman
5. 387,463,949 Chief Daddy [local comedy from the director of The Wedding Party 2]
6. 236,170,402 Captain Marvel
7. 231,523,253 King of Boyz [local political thriller from the director of The Wedding Party]
8. 230,000,000 (est.) Merry Men: The Real Yoruba Demons [local crime comedy]
9. 212,479,980 Avengers: Endgame
10. 178,500,000 (est.) A Trip to Jamaica [local comedy-drama]

Each of the top five movies have grossed over $1 million, based on prevailing exchange rates. There’s two easy-to-spot trends from the aforementioned list: Nollywood is thriving, and superhero movies are the most popular genre of Hollywood fare in Nigeria. In terms of additional trends, Hollywood movies with African-American leads are relatively strong performers (for example, What Men Want has grossed $362,079, or 130,243,265 Naira, versus Shazam!’s $301,934, or 108,607,568 Naira, to date), while Hollywood animated and family fare tanks horribly (ex. Dumbo, which has made just $29,578, or 10,639,467 Naira, so far). Additionally, Nigeria tends to be a very leggy market; multipliers of 4-6x are common, and some movies (such as The Wedding Party, based on estimates) hold much better than that.

Finally, the weekend ending April 28 was of course dominated by Endgame’s $590,698 total opening at 45 theaters. Little was a slow second over a rare tough weekend for the holdovers, grossing just $17,155 at 40 theaters in its second weekend, for a total of $107,704 to date; no other holdovers were worth mentioning.

Whew, that about wraps it up! As always, I look forward to any feedback or other comments anyone might have.