Global Box Office, part II

As expected, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) dominated the past week's global box office. Harry Potter was the #1 film in all countries it opened except in Turkey where it was at #2:

1 Five Minarets in New York 625
2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) 373

Harry Potter opened in 373 Turkish screens earning an average $4,621 per theater whereas The Turkish-American co-production Five Minarets in New York showed in 625 theaters earning an average of $4,590 per theater. On average, Harry Potter earned slightly more so you can be sure that for Part II, Hollywood will try to add a few more screens in Turkey. However, Five Minarets in New York is in its third week and is still putting up strong numbers.

The model that Hollywood clearly follows is to flood as many screens nationally and internationally as possible. In Brazil, Harry Potter.. opened in 1014 screens, more than double the number of screens which played Elite Squad 2 (492 screens).

The same story was found in Japan where the film opened in 872 screens, more than double the screens showing the Japanese film SP: The motion picture yabô hen which in its 4th week still earned a strong $5,853 per theater.

1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) 872
2 SP: The motion picture yabô hen 394

Interestingly, the film didn't open in South Korea yet where the local box office is dominated by two Korean films, in their 2nd and 4th week respectively:

1 Choneungryukja 637
2 Boodang Guhrae 337
3 The Social Network 361

In its 4th week and showing in 337 screens Boodang Guhrae earned an average of $4,002 per screen which was slightly more than the opening average of $3,581 put up by The Social Network despite playing in more screens. Traditionally, South Korea is just one of a few countries that has been able to hold off the big Hollywood films with its local cinema, so the strategy in South Korea appears to be hold off releasing the film until maximum profit has been reaped from other nations.

Many nations yet movie to unite them all. So much for cinematic choices.