Despite a mixed reaction from critics,
Battleship has opened up impressively overseas over a month before it's released in the US on May 18th. With a reported budget of $209 million (some analysts believe it to actually be closer to $250 million) the studio should be feeling confident after it hit the #1 spot in nearly every single country it was released in this past Wednesday. Based on how it is currently performing, the Peter Berg hemled flick is expected to bring in over $300 million from foreign box office receipts. While there are some concerns that it will under-perform when it is finally released in the states, it now seems as if what it makes overseas (it was released today in an additional 26 territories, taking it to 40 in total) will be more than enough to make it a hit for Universal.
In Australia,
Battleship took $1.1M on Wednesday (the same as
Iron Man and
Thor and twice as much as
John Carter). In Korea, sources indicate that it is
"dominating the box office with Korea leading the pack." An impressive $2.8M actually made it the biggest opening for an English language non-sequel ever there. In the UK, it grossed $1.5M on Wednesday, no doubt helped by the fact that the kids are off school for an Easter break. Previews for
Thor last year took £730K in comparison. Over in France, it opened with $870K and made $132K in Belgium. Many thanks to
Deadline for the above details.