Almost two weeks on from the first day of TENET’s $53.6M worldwide opening weekend, we turn our attention away from TENET to an unlikely source of redemption. Last weekend, THE NEW MUTANTS amassed $4.2M for a global cume of $20.1M. The latest X-Men installment, which was heavily written off prior to release, has been the catalyst that Mexico was waiting for to push the market past the second stage in Gower Street’s Blueprint To Recovery.
As shown in our latest international report, Mexico (See Growth Trackers below) sailed past their first box office target (Stage 2) on Sunday, September 6. Stage 2 is achieving a base-level single-day box office equivalent to the lowest grossing day of the past two years.
Despite a TENET-less weekend in Mexico (scheduled for release September 16), the market smashed the Stage 2 target on Sunday with MX$10.4M against a target of MX$8.4M. Of that Sunday total, 41% was made up by new opener THE NEW MUTANTS (MX$4.3M) and 21% by family animation SCOOB! (MX$2.2M) in its third week (data from our partners at Comscore Movies).
Latin America’s largest market had slowly been beginning to open more cinemas in the build-up to last weekend. Mexico City re-opened August 14, Monterrey September 5, and Tabasco September 7. This build-up of open cinemas pushed Mexico past the Stage 1 target on the Road To Recovery on Monday, in line with Tabasco opening. This target represents a point at which most cinemas in the market are open; 80% of cinemas by market share.
There was more good news in Latin America this weekend. Ecuador also began making progress through the 5-Stages (see Growth Trackers below). The recovery in Ecuador has been different to that of Mexico; without the release of TENET (September 25) or THE NEW MUTANTS (September 18) Ecuador has relied on a steady accumulation of titles.
This accumulation of titles, many of them local, means Ecuador achieved the first of the box office stages (Stage 2) on Saturday, September 5. With a daily box office of $44.3k against a target of $43.9k, Ecuador became the first country within the Latin American region to reach Stage 2. This target was then also surpassed the following day.
The outlook across the entire Latin American region has improved in the last few weeks. This weekend we saw 32% of cinemas open by market share, a 45% increase in the proportion of cinemas since the same point the week before. This all comes despite growing difficulties in controlling the spread of COVID-19; five of the ten worst affected countries (by total cases) are from the LatAm region.
Growth Trackers for 8 Latin American territories as well as a further 21 international territories are available in our international Road To Recovery reports. Don’t forget to sign up for our free trial, now extended through the end of September, to track further signs of growth and recovery.
