Vin Diesels xXx: Return of Xander Cage Leads International Bo

Vin Diesel's "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" showed major muscle to lead the international marketplace with $50.5 million in 53 territories.

The action movie, from Paramount Pictures and Revolution Studios, finished first in 32 markets, performing 42 percent above "Kingsmen," 4 percent above "San Andreas," and on par with "G.I. Joe Retaliation."

India generated the top number with $7.3 million including previews, followed by first-place launches in Russia with $5.5 million, France with $3.1 million, and Germany and Mexico with $2.8 million each. Australia generated $2.3 million in second place and Brazilian grosses were $2.2 million for a third-place finish.

"Xander Cage" will open in Korea on Feb. 9 and in China on Feb. 10. The film has an $85 million budget with backing from Chinese companies Huahua Media and Shanghai Film Group, which limits Paramount's exposure to about 50 percent. Paramount and the two companies announced a three-year $1 billion co-financing deal on Thursday.

"Xander Cage" stars Diesel as a skilled government operative character who debuted in the 2002 movie "xXx." The film also stars Samuel L. Jackson and has a multinational cast that includes China's Donnie Yen, India's Deepika Padukone, Australia's Ruby Rose, and Thailand's Tony Jaa.

D.J. Caruso directs from a script by F. Scott Frazier, which centers on Diesel's Xander Cage coming out of self-imposed exile in a race to recover a seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora's Box. Diesel did not appear in the 2005 sequel "xXx: State of the Union."

"Xander Cage" finished second at the U.S. box office to M. Night Shyamalan's "Split," taking in $20 million domestically.

Lionsgate's awards contender "La La Land" led the rest of the pack on the weekend's international box office chart, compiled by comScore, taking in $16.6 million to push its foreign total to $83.7 million. The musical comedy-drama has topped $173 million worldwide.

XXX: Return Of Xander Cage' Muscles Into #1 With $50.5M - International Box Office

UPDATE, WRITETHRU after 10:13 AM post: Vin Diesel's resurrection as the eponymous government operative in xXx: Return Of Xander Cage leads the international box office this weekend with a $50.5M start in 53 markets. From Paramount Pictures and Revolution Studios, the extreme actioner muscled up No. 1s in 32 markets, and in like-for-like plays is 42% above Kingsman: The Secret Service, 4% over San Andreas and on par with Par's own G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

Box Office: Vin Diesel's 'xXx: Return Of Xander Cage' Nabs Extreme $70M Global Debut



The next big release of the weekend, after Split's big $40 million debut weekend, is xXx: Return of Xander Cage. The Paramount/Viacom Inc. release, a co-production with Revolution to the tune of $85m, is a sequel to 2002's xXx and 2005's xXx: State of the Union. The Vin Diesel film was positioned as a sequel as well as a would-be franchise reboot, something akin to Fast & Furious which brought the original The Fast and the Furious cast back together back in 2009. But lightning didn't strike twice, at least not in North America.

The film earned $20 million over its opening weekend. That's below the $46m debut of the first xXx back in 2002, although that was Vin Diesel coming off the first Fast and the Furious. But it's a lot better (even adjusted for inflation) than the $12m debut of Ice Cube's xXx: State of the Union back in 2005. It's not a crazy huge debut weekend, but Paramount and Revolution were always betting on big overseas bounties for this threequel.

The relative over-performance of M. Night Shyamalan's Split isn't helping the Xander Zone. The good news is that this one was engineered to kick butt overseas, with an inclusive (and delightful) supporting cast including Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Toni Collette, Tony Jaa and Ruby Rose among many others. The film earned a solid $50.5 million overseas for a $70.5m debut weekend around the world. For what it's worth, that's about the entire global cume ($71m) of xXx: State of the Union.


Scott Mendelson , CONTRIBUTOR
I cover the film industry.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' image courtesy of Paramount

The next big release of the weekend, after Split's big $40 million debut weekend, is xXx: Return of Xander Cage. The Paramount/Viacom Inc. release, a co-production with Revolution to the tune of $85m, is a sequel to 2002's xXx and 2005's xXx: State of the Union. The Vin Diesel film was positioned as a sequel as well as a would-be franchise reboot, something akin to Fast & Furious which brought the original The Fast and the Furious cast back together back in 2009. But lightning didn't strike twice, at least not in North America.

The film earned $20 million over its opening weekend. That's below the $46m debut of the first xXx back in 2002, although that was Vin Diesel coming off the first Fast and the Furious. But it's a lot better (even adjusted for inflation) than the $12m debut of Ice Cube's xXx: State of the Union back in 2005. It's not a crazy huge debut weekend, but Paramount and Revolution were always betting on big overseas bounties for this threequel.

The relative over-performance of M. Night Shyamalan's Split isn't helping the Xander Zone. The good news is that this one was engineered to kick butt overseas, with an inclusive (and delightful) supporting cast including Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Toni Collette, Tony Jaa and Ruby Rose among many others. The film earned a solid $50.5 million overseas for a $70.5m debut weekend around the world. For what it's worth, that's about the entire global cume ($71m) of xXx: State of the Union.

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If you want to play "fun with math," a $50 million debut in 54% of the world gives the film an eventual $92m "100% of overseas" debut. Give it a 2.5x multiplier on average in the various territories and you get a $50m domestic total and a $230m overseas cume for a $280m worldwide total on an $85m budget. If it plays out like that, and it could go either way (it's the kind of grindhouse action movie that makes $50m in China alone), it's arguably a solid double, especially if the film's gonzo quality gets fans/casual action junkies interested in another round in the Xander Zone.

Also helping is that the film is actually pretty good, or at least it's good for those that are into this kind of thing. But, as a general rule, you don't want to be one of those "No, no, wait, it's actually pretty good!" movies heading into opening weekend. I might argue that Paramount perhaps should have screened this one early to get the word out about how crazy fun it is. Yet the film is currently at 42% (average critic score: 4.8/10), so perhaps the relative acclaim from myself and those at my screening the other night was a result of some weirdly disconnected bubble.

Again, this one is all about overseas riches for Paramount (which is footing around half of the bill). But at least in North America, the film may turn out to be another long-dormant franchise that wasn't re-embraced with open arms. At the very least, you can't argue that Vin Diesel and friends merely banked on franchise nostalgia. They delivered a great cast, some truly clever action, and a shameless kitchen sink mentality. I have to wonder if that cast and that (relatively generic) plot might have done better absent the explicit franchise tie-in. But that's a theoretical question for another day.

There were two other smaller-scale debuts this weekend, starting with The Founder. Originally slated for August of last year, the Michael Keaton vehicle, which concerns the morally murky origins of McDonald's, was moved into an unusual Oscar-friendly slot whereby it ran for a week last December at the Arclight before opening in 1,115 theaters this weekend. Alas, with Weinstein Company committing full-throttle to Lion for would-be Oscar glory, the John Lee Hancock film got tossed to the side. So cue a$3.37 million debut weekend.

The good news is that the film only cost $7 million to produce, so there isn't much at stake other than pride. The film got solid reviews, especially for Keaton's star turn, but it just got lost in the shuffle as Hidden Figures and La La Land snagged all the adult/Oscar viewers. It's a good and interesting film, although I wonder if yesterday was the best day to release a drama about a cutthroat capitalist who screws over small business owners and becomes a billionaire. Oh well, hopefully, it will have something resembling legs.

Finally, BH Tilt opened The Resurrection of Gavin Stone yesterday to muted results. The faith-based drama, about a former child star forced to do community service at a local mega-church who ends up starring in an annual Passion Play, earned just $1.135 million in 887 theaters.

Like BH Tilt's previous horror titles, the semi-wide release involved specifically chosen theaters, in this case, multiplexes frequented by faith-based audiences. The marketing campaign was created by BH Tilt but funded elsewhere, was digitally-focused and was in the single-digit millions of dollars.

It will emerge a hit if it gets one more solid weekend..otherwise I think it has already recovered its costs...Good stepping stone for Deepika..now she has to consolidate it...

Topping the international box office in a weekend with no competition isn't really an achievement

I like this movie very much

ohhh no sad to hear that

I do not like this movie

Source? You still mumm about your source. You want to play around with keep mumm about your source? Source please.