Taylor Swift’s movie is presiding over Martin Scorsese’s in North American theaters, but the “Mean Streets” director has outstripped the “Mean” singer at the international box office.
Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a crime epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, has generated $21 million from 63 overseas markets. In terms of weekend ticket sales, it’s pacing ahead of Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” which added $10.5 million in its second weekend of release. The pop star’s concert extravaganza has earned a sizable $164.78 million worldwide to date.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” took second place behind “Eras Tour” at the domestic box office, bringing in $23 million and boosting its global tally to $44 million. Outside of North America, the U.K. has been the biggest market for “Flower Moon” with $3 million, followed by France ($2.6 million), Germany ($1.6 million), Australia ($1.4 million) and Spain ($1.3 million). According to the film’s distributor, Paramount, these ticket sales are comparable to 2019’s racing drama “Ford v. Ferrari,” which ended its run with $104 million internationally, and 25% above “House of Gucci,” which tapped out with $99.4 million, in similar markets.
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Adapted from David Grann’s 2017 novel and co-starring Lily Gladstone and Jesse Plemons, “Killers of the Flower Moon” depicts the mysterious murders that took place after major oil deposits were discovered on the Osage nation’s land in the early 1920s, as well as the newly formed FBI’s investigation of the bloodshed. Critics and audiences have embraced the film, which holds a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and landed an “A-” CinemaScore.
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Apple backed “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which cost $200 million and needs to do big business to be considered a commercial winner. The metric for success is complicated by the fact that a streaming service like Apple doesn’t place as much emphasis on box office compared to traditional theatrical players. Ticket sales are a means of boosting the film’s profile before landing on streaming. “Killers of the Flower Moon” is the first of three upcoming movies from Apple to receive such a significant run on the big screen, with Ridley Scott’s historical drama “Napoleon” (distributed by Sony Pictures) and Matthew Vaughn’s spy thriller “Argylle” (distributed by Universal) also on the calendar in the next six months.
“This release is going to generate excellent theatrical income, and then it’s going to substantially increase the film’s value in every ancillary window that follows — however that value is realized,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research.
Elsewhere, Universal’s animated threequel “Trolls Band Together” collected $14.3 million from 26 territories for an international tally of $16 million. Right now, it’s pacing just below 2016’s “Trolls” (which eventually earned $193 million overseas) at the same point in its run. The musical follow-up, which reunites the popular ’90s boyband NSYNC, doesn’t open in the U.S. and Canada until Nov. 17.