Stone Marshall's Blog, page 164
May 3, 2017
‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2’ Blasts Off With $106M – International Box Office
MONDAY UPDATE, WRITETHRU with GOTG2 actuals: Rocketing off in 37 markets this weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 came in nearly $5M higher than projected on Sunday. With a $106M opening at the international box office, the launch was notably stronger than forecast in both Europe (+$3.1M) and Latin America (+$1.1M). That ratchets the debut up to 64% bigger than the first Guardians, 57% bigger than Captain America: The Winter Soldier and 24% above Thor: The Dark World when comparing the same suite of territories and all at today’s exchange rates. Many markets have a holiday today for May Day.
The GOTG2 opening is in line with pre-weekend projections which hovered around the $100M mark. Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill got off to an especially good start on Tuesday last week, taking advantage of holidays in Italy and Australia/New Zealand. This is the same late-April sweet spot that has seen Disney release such Marvel tentpoles as Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Iron Man 3.
Although Civil War is not a fantastic comp here given that it hulks out as essentially an Avengers movie, it’s interesting to note that GOTG2 has opened above it in some key markets. Those include Germany and France which are both in the Top 5 hubs.
GOTG2 is currently in 58% of its offshore footprint with domestic and the rest of the world, including China but not yet Japan, pressing play on Awesome Mixtape #2 this coming week. It’s expected to continue to outperform the previous film with China potentially playing a pivotal role. The market was tops on GOTG in 2014, even after the movie released more than two months later than the rest of the rollout. It still charmed the PROC with $96.5M to lead all overseas plays.
In all openings this weekend, the James Gunn-helmed sequel was the No. 1 movie (save in Portugal, Turkey and Vietnam). It also bested the original in each market, except for Belgium which had previews the last time around. On 176 IMAX screens, and ahead of a big push this week, GOTG2 made $5M.
The biggest play is the UK with $16.9M, followed by Australia at $11.8M, Germany with $9.3M, Mexico at $8.2M and France with $7.9M. In the UK, Disney now has the top two openers of 2017 led by Beauty And The Beast and with GOTG2 in 2nd. The film’s Friday debut is also the 2nd biggest opening day ever for a Marvel Cinematic Universe title — behind Captain America: Civil War, and ahead of GOTG by 86%.
In the rest of the box office galaxy, Universal’s The Fate Of The Furious pushed past $1B worldwide while Disney’s Beauty And The Beast has moved up to $1.142B global with a 9% increase in Japan’s 2nd frame. And, in India, S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2: The Conclusion had grossed an estimated 121 net crores ($18.2M) on its opening day to shatter records at home while the action sequel is also a monster in North America and other overseas play.
Breakdowns on the films above and more have been updated below; actuals will be updated on a rolling basis.
Disney
The ragtag troupe of Disney/Marvel space-savers rocketed to $106M at the international box office this weekend. The opening, which began on Tuesday in Italy and Down Under, comes in 64% above the previous GOTG movie and tops other sequel comps Captain America: The Winter Soldier (+57%) and Thor: The Dark World (+24%). The launch is in line with projections from ahead of the weekend where the range was $85M-$100M with most thinking it would get to the latter number, if not a bit higher.
Notably, GOTG2 outperformed Captain America: Civil War in some key plays, even though it’s not a perfect comp given it scales more as an Avengers installment. In only 37 material markets this frame, there are several majors to come including China, Russia and Korea this week. Japan tunes in on May 12. GOTG2 should continue to outperform the previous film, although China as ever will be key. The day-and-date release with domestic is better timing than 2014’s GOTG, and the market has been energized by the massive success of The Fate Of The Furious.
On the last movie, China was the top offshore play at $96.5M, followed by the UK ($47.4M), Russia ($38.5M), Germany ($24.6M) and Australia ($23.3M) to round out the Top 5.
This weekend, GOTG2 was No. 1 in all of its debuts, except Portugal, Turkey and Vietnam and was higher than GOTG the first everywhere save Belgium where the original had previews in the mix.
The UK was the biggest launch market for the space jam with a 67% share. It’s the 2nd biggest opening of the year, behind Disney’s own Beauty And The Beast; and the 2nd best first day for an MCU title (behind Civil War). The $16.9M bow is over 86% higher than the first film.
Australia came in with $11.8M after being boosted by the Anzac holiday earlier in the week. At the weekend, it was 27% bigger than GOTG. Germany kicked off with $9.3M and the 2nd best MCU debut ever. It’s over 11% ahead of Civil War there and better than GOTG. Mexico jumps up to No. 4 in the actuals with $8.2M and France rounds out the Top 5 at 16% higher than Civil War and 36% better than GOTG with $7.9M.
Other key market cumes include Brazil ($6.9M), Italy ($4.1M), Indonesia ($3.4M), Spain ($3.3M) and the Philippines ($3.2M). Austria saw the best MCU debut of all time.
IMAX pulled in $5M of the total weekend gross on 176 screens in 35 hubs. The UK portion of that was $1.4M for 50% better than GOTG. Standout performances in the large format were seen in Turkey (+139% on GOTG), Mexico (+80%), France (+73%), Australia (+69%) and Brazil (+57%). The film adds 700 more IMAX screens in 31 markets next frame, including China and North America.
BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION
ARKA
It is notoriously difficult to get solid numbers out of India, particularly when a movie is released in four different language versions as is the case with S.S. Rajamouli’s sequel to 2015 Telegu smash Baahubali. However, Day 1 estimates came in at 121 net crores ($18.2M) with 285 gross crore ($42.8M) through Saturday, according to local analysts. The worldwide gross of 217 crore ($32.6M) on Day 1 topped the entire first weekend of Salman Khan’s Sultan. Through Saturday, the global estimate is 382.5 crores ($57.5) which is, frankly, unheard of. It also topped box office king Aamir Khan’s Dangal opening on Day 1.
Outside of India, in seven markets including North America, it made $13.83M including $10.14 domestic.
In IMAX, shows sold out across the weekend scoring the No. 1 opening ever in India for the format with $334K on 10 screens, about 15% bigger than The Fate Of The Furious. The launch is also IMAX’s biggest global opening ever for an Indian title and the biggest domestic bow for a foreign language movie. On only 66 IMAX screens worldwide, it grossed $2.34M.
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion reunites the Rajamouli with star Prabhas, along with Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia. The first film went on to be the third-highest grossing Indian title globally with an estimated $97M. It won the National Award for Best Feature Film in 2015. At opening, it grossed over $20M locally and had a weekend take of about $28M worldwide. The period war epic hails from Tollywood (as the Telugu industry is known) and is released in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam.
This one picks up with hero Shivudu (Prabhas) as he comes to terms with his legacy and the responsibility placed on him by this knowledge. Shivudu’s quest aims to find the answer to the question that’s plagued fans of the franchise: Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali?
Released on over 9,000 screens worldwide, the Prabhas-starrer received a rapturous reception at home and abroad. In India, it played on a record 6,500 screens. The Day 1 score there came in nearly 6 times bigger than the top opener of 2017, Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees. We will update with full-weekend figures as they become available and I’ll have a separate report with more detail a bit later.
HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS
THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS
Universal
Joining the $1B club, Universal’s high-octane 8th installment in this $4B+ franchise added $68.4M in 69 territories this frame. The international total is $867.6M for $1.06B worldwide. This is the fourth-highest-grossing Universal film worldwide after Jurassic World ($1.67B), Furious 7 ($1.52B) and Minions ($1.16B). It is also the studio’s 5th film to reach the $1B mark, and tops Jurassic Park’s $1.04B.
Japan was the only new play, also the final release, with $7.5M. That’s the best start for the franchise in the market, although it came in at No. 2 behind Beauty And The Beast whose ardent fans kept that film at No. 1.
Most notably this weekend, F8 grew to 2.43B RMB, making it the biggest imported movie of all time in the market. It is No. 2 ever amongst all movies with local pic The Mermaid still at No. 1 overall with 3.4B RMB. The dollar figure on F8 in the Middle Kingdom is $361M.
The Top 5 markets are now China, Mexico ($33.4M), the UK ($32.8M), Germany ($27.5M) and Brazil ($32.4M). F8 is Universal’s highest grossing film ever in Egypt, Indonesia, Paraguay and Venezeuela.
In IMAX plays this frame, TFOTF earned $5M on 858 screens. The global cume is now $58M in the format; China alone is $27M.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Disney
Coming off of a $17.2M weekend in 46 territories, the Bill Condon-directed Beauty has played to $662.4M worth of overseas audiences. Globally, the total is $1.142B, making it the No. 13 highest grossing movie of all time. This week it waltzed past Transformers: Age Of Extinction, Skyfall, Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, and Transformers: Dark Of The Moon.
In Japan, Disney saw turnstiles spin 9% harder than on the first weekend. The cume there is now $33.6M and Golden Week is upon us. Elsewhere, holds were strong including in the Netherlands (-10%), Spain (-30%), New Zealand (-30%).
In Europe, the estimated cume to date of $267M, makes this the 2nd highest grossing film of the past 12 months in Europe (behind only Rogue One). In the UK/Ireland, Beauty And The Beast is the 8th biggest movie of all-time, and the biggest musical ever there with $87.4M..
THE BOSS BABY
DreamWorks Animation/Fox
Alec Baldwin’s briefcase toting tot cashed in with another $15.6M this weekend on 9,281 screens in 72 markets. The DreamWorks Animation pic that Fox is releasing is seeing super holds with an international cume of $248.2M.
The lead market is the UK with $29.6M after 4 frames while France has banked $20.2M after five. Holland jumped by 51% in its sophomore session ($3.6M cume). Spain dipped just 16% ($8.8M to date) and Poland also slipped just 16% for a 2.65M cume.
Boss Baby has also become the biggest grossing DWA title ever in Hong Kong (topping Kung Fu Panda 2). Korea is still on deck on May 3.
SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE
Sony
The blue boys and girl found $11.7M internationally this weekend. Animated in 62 markets and on 9K screens, the Sony release now has an overseas cume of $117.8M. In the 2nd China frame, the film added $5.1M for an $18.1M cume to date.
GOING IN STYLE
Warner Bros.
This Warner Bros’ remake lifted another $3M from the international box office on 2,370 screens in 46 markets. The overseas cume is now $24.2M. Australia dropped 34% from opening to total $2.1M to date. Mexico also had a good sophomore hold with $437K from 419 screens. The total there is $1.8M. Germany’s $516K weekend was a 32% drop for $2.9M to date. The lead market remains the UK at $3.4M. France and Italy get in on the action this week.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Universal
Get Out (UNI): $1.6M intl weekend (30 markets); $21.4M intl cume
Ghost In The Shell (PAR/MS): $1.3M intl weekend ($1.1 in 40 PPI markets); $126.2M intl cume ($124.9M PPI)
Sing (UNI): $800K intl weekend (10 markets); $357.6M intl cume – Japan now highest grossing offshore hub with $42.3M
Logan (FOX): $118K intl weekend (13 markets); $383.2M intl cume
Hidden Figures (FOX): $116K intl weekend (10 markets); $60M intl cume
Split (UNI): $100K (18 markets); $136..8M intl cume
LOCAL-LANGUAGE
Bona
There were also a handful of new titles that performed well in Asia this weekend. The Fate Of The Furious was supplanted at the top of the China chart by Shock Wave. The Hong Kong action pic about a hostage situation grossed $24.4M to win the weekend, although F8 was ahead of it on the Sunday. Also debuting in the Middle Kingdom this session were Battle Of Memories, a sci-fi thriller from Leste Chen with $21.8M; romcom Love Off The Cuff with $13.7M; and Derek Hui’s drama This Is Not What I Expected with $12.3M. In Korea, political drama The Mayor led box office at $5M per comScore although Kobiz has it higher at $6.1M. That was followed by comedy/adventure pic The King’s Case Note with $4M per comScore, $4.9M according to Kobiz. F8 slipped to 3rd place there this weekend with a $23.2M cume.
‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2’ Blasts Off With $106M – International Box Office
May 2, 2017
Custom Minecraft figs with glowing eyes and swords
Red Lava Toys is a Detroit-based startup that make super cool, low-cost custom Minecraft figs at a local makerspace: they CNC-milled their own injection molds for the body and joints, and have precision die-cut vinyl stickers that they print to order with long-lasting ink and cover with a clear adhesive coat, then place them on the body of the toy.
Better still, they’re 3D printing glowing swords and other accessories, and augmenting the heads with glowing eyes — prices range from $15-$20.
You can order from a variety of readymades, or give them your Minecraft username, or upload a skin and they’ll print your character. They offer a full, 30-day money-back satisfaction guarantee.
I picked up a couple of these at Detroit’s Penguicon this weekend. They’re really fantastic!
April 29, 2017
Minecraft Museum of London project adds third and final Great Fire map
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Last year, the Museum of London launched its Great Fire 1666 campaign—an educational project that uses Minecraft to reimagine the Great Fire of London, in-line with the disaster’s 350th anniversary. Split into three distinct time periods during the event, different Minecraft maps portray events pre-fire, during the fire, and the aftermath and rebuilding of London in the wake of the fire. Part one and two can be found via those respective links and part three is now also live.
Supported by the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, part three is named The Rebuild and looks something like this:
“Inspired by the Museum of London’s rich collections, Great Fire 1666 uses the power of Minecraft to tell the story of the fire,” reads the project’s site. “Three maps offer immersive experiences, allowing players to enter the City of London in 1666 and explore the story of the Great Fire like never before. Uncover the causes of this terrible event, help fight the fire and eventually try your hand at rebuilding London.
“Each map includes challenges to help players delve deeper into the story and experience what it was like to be part of the Fire of London.”
Head in this direction for download links for each stage of the Great Fire 1666 project, as well as more information on the project’s aims and purpose.
Minecraft Museum of London project adds third and final Great Fire map
‘Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition’: Special Features To Be Included
“Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition” was officially revealed just a few days ago, and now, fans thinking about getting this game can learn more about what new features it will offer.
Minecraft official website‘Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition’ is due out on May 11Though the Switch works differently from other consoles, players can expect that the version of “Minecraft” that will be released for it will be capable of supporting whichever style of play they want to try out.
In a recent post on the game’s official website, it was also revealed that up to eight players can join up online, while as many as four different players can take part in the experience when it is played in local multiplayer mode.
Additional details about the Switch edition were then revealed by developers during a recent livestream, WWG reported.
Starting off with world sizes, players can reportedly create 3072 x 3072-sized worlds, and that upper limit is a significant step up from what was provided to players in last gen consoles.
Another promising revelation is that players who enjoyed “Minecraft” on the Wii U may also not have to simply abandon the previous game even as they move to Nintendo’s newest console. Developers are reportedly primed to introduce a special system that will allow for the proper transfer of worlds from the Wii U edition to the Switch version of the game.
This special system is not expected to be made accessible right away to players, however, so they may have to wait for a bit before they can see their Wii U worlds moved over to the Switch edition of “Minecraft.”
The “Super Mario Mash-Up pack” is also being bundled together with the Switch edition, giving players more items to play around with right away.
Players can start creating worlds using Nintendo’s newest gaming platform as soon as “Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition” is officially released on May 11.
‘Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition’: Special Features To Be Included
April 27, 2017
Minecraft’s Next Big Update Detailed
Minecraft‘s Discovery Update is coming to Windows 10 and Pocket Editions, bringing with it more exploration options and journeys into woodland mansions. Oh, and llamas.
“Barter with a cartographer for a treasure map,” and seek out your fortune, according to the official Minecraft blog. The maps lead you to woodland mansions where you can duke it out with Illagers, “villagers gone bad,” for treasure.
The Discovery Update is similar to the Exploration Update implemented in vanilla Minecraft back in November, which saw the introduction of llamas as tameable mobs used as pack animals. Llamas are part of the Discovery Update and have similar functionality to the Llamas in Minecraft on PC.
A new Adventure Mode is also coming with the update, “for folks who like to make custom games and scenarios.”
The Discovery Update beta is coming to the Android version of Pocket Edition “very soon,” and more information can be found on the official Minecraft blog “in the coming weeks.”
Minecraft consistently appears in the top of the NPD Group’s monthly US sales listings, and its popularity doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down. Minecraft is coming to Nintendo Switch, making it the first Nintendo portable to have a version of the game.
April 24, 2017
LEGO Worlds Review: PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch builder is fun, but no Minecraft
And while it doesn’t quite hit the heights of that worldbuilding phenomenon, there’s enough here to satisfy fans.
The game is basically a massive open sandbox to build entire LEGO worlds.
There’s a rather bland, basic story where you play an astronaut exploring planets.
The more gold bricks you discover on each planet, the more worlds open to you.
And while they start off relatively small, it won’t be long before you are travelling between huge worlds with varied landscapes.
LEGO Worlds – PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC Screenshots
It’s all quite intuitive and you can build anything you can think of with enough time.
The game, available on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch is aimed at kids aged seven up.
But older kids and adults will still love this. we fear the building mechanics aren’t as accessible as Minecraft and will leave the youngest ones struggling.
That said, we fear the building mechanics aren’t as accessible as what is on offer in Minecraft.
Worse still, it could leave the game’s youngest players struggling.
Overall, LEGO Worlds is a fantastic title, but you’ll need to put the effort in to get the best out of it.
LEGO Worlds Review: PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch builder is fun, but no Minecraft
April 23, 2017
Xbox Boss Teases New “Future Work” On Minecraft
Xbox boss Phil Spencer spent a part of his day today with the team at Minecraft developer Mojang, he said on Twitter. While he didn’t get into specifics about what he saw, Spencer said it was a “Great day with the team [at] Mojang seeing the future work on Minecraft.”
He added: “Very cool to see the new ideas the team has come to life.”
Microsoft acquired the Minecraft franchise and developer Mojang in September in a big deal worth $2.5 billion. Since then, the massively popular sandbox game has gotten even bigger, with Microsoft announcing 121 million sales and 55 million monthly players earlier this year.
The game is regularly supported with new DLC and updates, including Power Rangers content that came out at the end of March. More recently, Microsoft announced a real-money marketplace for Minecraft, while the game is coming to another platform, Nintendo Switch, in May.
In August 2015, Spencer talked about his broad vision for Minecraft, saying Microsoft has no immediate plans to make Minecraft 2, though it could happen eventually.
What would you like to see added to Minecraft in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
Remote Scottish islands recreated in Minecraft
You1 can now explore the St. Kilda archipelago, a tiny collection of islands 40 miles off the Scottish coast, in Minecraft. This is great because it rains less in Minecraft, and the wind won’t shear your face off.
The BBC reports that the 1:1 scale map of the islands took 125 hours to produce.
The last islanders left the main island of Hirta in 1930 after life there became unsustainable.
People only now live on Hirta on a temporary basis to work at the military site, or on wildlife conservation projects. …
The map is available for public download to allow gamers all over the world to explore the archipelago’s history, heritage, stories, people and landscapes.
St. Kilda really is perfectly-sized to be a Minecraft map: a main island about 2km long and some smaller outlying ones. I hope they made it so the Minecraft version is fully playable, and not just a vast block of stone under the surface.
1. Can anyone actually find the download? Am I going crazy? 
Remote Scottish islands recreated in Minecraft
April 22, 2017
Minecraft Fallout Mash-Up Pack now available for Pocket and Windows 10 versions
At the end of last year, the Fallout Mash-Up Pack was only available for console versions of Minecraft. However, developer Mojang has just announced that the post-apocalyptic pack will soon be available to play on the Windows 10 and Pocket Edition versions of the game. A small preview of what to expect can be seen in the teaser trailer for the console release of the pack, below:
This is a very interesting combination, as the RPG survival experience offered by Fallout meets the sandbox, block-dominated world of Minecraft.
Many of the characters and visual quirks of the nuclear wasteland game seem to be available, as the pack boasts 44 different skins, and several “mutated” mobs. In addition, it looks like all of the previous Fallout landscapes have been combined into one, so you can hop from Diamond City to elements of the Capitol, for example, something which is not possible in the normal Fallout titles.
As if the latest Fallout game was not already customizable enough, the wasteland is now completely subject to your own imagination and the freedom offered to you by Minecraft’s blocky world.
If you want to buy this pack, you will have to do so via the in-game store. It is priced the same as its console equivalent, at $5.99.
Minecraft Fallout Mash-Up Pack now available for Pocket and Windows 10 versions
Someone Made the ‘S-Town’ Maze in ‘Minecraft’
The famed hedge maze created by John B. McLemore and prominently featured in S-Town — the internet’s latest podcast obsession from the creators of Serial and This American Life — has officially been given the Minecraft treatment. That’s right, one dedicated fan of both podcasts and video games scouted out the IRL maze and rebuilt it one pixelated bush at a time.
While less visually astounding than, say, recreating Game of Thrones’s King’s Landing in its entirety, rebuilding the maze from aerial footage is not just impressive, but it’s crucial to John B.’s legacy. From the photos that have surfaced showing the sad after-effects of the abandoned hedge maze, it doesn’t seem possible that anyone will see the maze reach maturity. This Minecraft creation give us a chance to experience the 64-solution (one is rumored to be unsolvable) puzzle.
YouTuber Coty Batemon claims to live not far from the land in which McLemore creation is rooted. Using the exact coordinates, Batemon captured footage via an aerial drone. Batemon then supposedly rebuilt the maze in Minecraft. In the below video, he proceeds to get a little lost himself for a bit before finding a chest at the center. Fast-forward to the end if you want to see the slow zoom out.
And, for an easy visual comparison, here’s the real maze and an aerial view of the Minecraft counterpart:
Curves don’t hold up well in pixels, but the recreations seems fairly accurate.
Listen to all seven episodes of S-Town right now wherever you get your podcasts.
