Notable: Disaster thriller Storm improved on last weekend with $14.2M across a comparable 46 markets, but on nearly double the screens with 9,100. The playdate increase was thanks to China where the film is estimated to have picked up about half of its weekend haul. Warner Bros is reporting rough flash projections of $7.6M for the Middle Kingdom three-day. The studio says it expects to be No. 1 when the dust settles, but Fox also has Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes at $7.6M and I’m hearing that Expendables 3 — whose overall overseas weekend estimate is $11.5M per Rentrak — could also eke out a No. 1 or 2 on an estimate of about $8M. We’ll know more when the actuals are tallied tomorrow.
In its 3rd frame in Korea, Into The Storm dropped 12% for a $1.9M hold on 428 screens and a local cume of $14.5M. The box office in Korea has been top-heavy with homegrown titles but has become the top-grossing ex-U.S. market for Storm. Mexico’s 2nd outing earned $1.8M from 1,040 screens for a cume of $6.5M and Australia has Storm at No. 2 for the 2nd frame with an additional $967K from 336 screens and a to-date total of $3.4M. The estimated international cume is $87.6M.
Armitage Agonistes 