Heading into the weekend, most box office prognosticators predicted that Universal’sThe Mummy rebootwouldn’t be able to best the hit superhero movieWonder Woman, which turned out to be true.The Mummydebuted in second place with an estimated $32.2 million, which was below many box office projections that had put the movie at over a $40 million debut. While the movie is certainly struggling domestically, that is surely not the case overseas, where the movie has already made back its sizable $125 million budget after just one weekend.
Deadlinereports thatThe Mummyhas earned an impressive $141.8 million this weekend from 63 international box office markets. The $141.8 million international tally and the $174 million global debut marks career bests for Tom Cruise. The movie was number 1 in 46 of the 63 territories, with China leading the pack with an impressive $52.2 million. Many thought that this movie would not be able to best Tom Cruise’s all-time best opening weekend figures, especially givenThe Mummy’s negative critical reception, with the movie currently a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the actor’sglobal star powerplus the growth shown in the Chinese market essentially nullified the poor critical reception.
This mark breaks Tom Cruise’s previous record for best international and global box office debut set by 2005’sWar of the Worlds, which earned $102.5 million internationally and $167.4 million worldwide in its opening weekend. That movie opened at $64.8 million domestically, en route to $234.2 million domestic and $597.1 million worldwide, from a $132 million budget. WhileThe Mummycertainly won’t be able to matchWar of the Worlds' global tally, if the movie keeps performing well internationally, it could very well surpassWar of the Worldsfinal take. There are only a handful of international markets the movie has yet to open in, with the France premiere set for June 14, Greece and Israel opening on June 15 and the final market, Japan, debuting on July 28.
At the time ofWar of the Worlds' box office debut, China wasn’t nearly the international powerhouse that it is now. It’s also worth noting that one of Tom Cruise’s recent movies, 2015’sMission: Impossible Rogue Nationhad much more longevity thanWar of the Worlds, although it didn’t have as big of an opening weekend.Rogue Nationopened with $64.5 million in just 40 markets including Korea, the UK and Mexico, although the movie didn’t debut in important markets like China, Japan, Brazil and France until a later date. It ended up earning an impressive $487.6 million internationally, with the $64.5 million debut representing just 13.3% of its worldwide total. China was easily the most successful international market, with $135.6 million coming out of the Middle Kingdom alone. It’s possible that this firstDark Universemovie could end up with a box office performance similar toWarcraft.
When Universal rolled out its highly-anticipated video game adaptationWarcraft, the reviews were not very positive either, much likeThe Mummy, garnering just a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Much like directorAlex Kurtzman’s The Mummy,Warcraftfloundered domestically, opening with $24.8 million, but dropping a massive 70% in its second weekend, staying in theaters for just seven weeks with a domestic tally of $47.1 million. However, the movie was a big hit overseas, earning $386.3 million, for a worldwide tally of $433.6 million from a $160 million budget. It performed extremely well in China, with a $65.1 million debut en route to a $213.5 million tally in the Middle Kingdom. SinceThe Mummyis off to such a good start internationally, it’s possible that it could mirror the unconventional success ofWarcraft.
