EXCLUSIVE: Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is rocking on to cross $500M worldwide tomorrow. Currently tracking to be No. 1 in 50 offshore markets this frame, it’s eyeing $260M+ at the international box office through Sunday and $241M domestic.
Directed by Jake Kasdan, the movie is swinging high and has acted as strong counterprogramming during the holiday corridor, and beyond. The Dwayne Johnson-starrer has doubled, and in some cases, tripled early international projections and seen strong upwards holds in such markets as Colombia, Russia and the Netherlands. Germany, Australia, Mexico, France and the UK have seen minimal dips. All of this is before China debuts on January 12.
Johnson is a major international draw and has been in China this past week for a premiere and press tour. He stars with Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas and Bobby Cannavale in the new adventure that sees four teenagers sucked into the world of Jumanji. When they discover an old video console with a game they’ve never heard of, they are immediately thrust into its jungle setting, and the bodies of their avatars.
Last weekend, Jumanji ended the frame as the No. 1 movie at overseas turnstiles, narrowly topping Star Wars: The Last Jedi which was in its 3rd full session.
Another hallmark for Sony’s update on the classic 1995 Jumanji is being the No. 3 movie ever in Malaysia, an increasingly important overseas hub for studio fare.
Along with China on January 12, upcoming markets include Korea, Italy, Brazil and Argentina.
Sony’s marketing team should be credited for pushing the movie early. International press was on set and there was a junket in Hawaii as well as a European premiere tour in the UK, Germany and France. Jonas attended Brazil ComiCon; and in China, Johnson participated in variety show Happy Camp for a Jumanji-themed episode which aired today (again, the movie is yet to debut in the Middle Kingdom so we’ll keep an eye on this next week). Online marketing was also heavy, natch, with talent globally engaging with fans.
In specific markets, Sony dropped a huge animal crate into the middle of Rome that was smashed as if a rhino had escaped (hmmm how does Jurassic World 2 top that?).
In Korea, they took over the subway with jungle antics; same in France with audio of drums triggered by train arrivals.
In Mexico there was a traffic tunnel takeover; the UK had a Clapham Colossus train station unit covered and jungle-dressed the Cromwell Road. Russia, Korea, Australia and other markets were strongly made aware Jumanji was coming.
My personal favorite is having Barcelona football star and ‘Boy Wonder’ Andres Iniesta transported into Jumanji.
Back tomorrow with more from the Jungle…
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Deadline
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