The remake

Updating classic action films has not been a route to box-office riches. Often, straining to do things bigger and louder doesn’t hide the hollowness inside; with the memory of a beloved old favourite hovering nearby, audiences feel it, too. That’s the problem faced by Warner Brothers’ Point Break remake, which has expanded its extreme-sports portfolio from the original’s surfing and skydiving, but – according to the first crop of reviews – ditched much of the airhead charm, too. Now in its second week, taking $12.3m from eight Asian markets, it’s got off to a better-than-expected start for an unknown quantity in China ($30.3m cumulative), thanks to a big push from local co-producer DMG. The 1991 film – a guilty-pleasure perennial if ever there was one – took $85.5m worldwide ($149.3m inflation corrected), so that’s the lowliest mark this $120m hothead needs to pass.



It’s surprising how few financially viable action remakes there have been, though – especially ones based on name properties. The auspicious originals overshadowed the 2012 Total Recall ($198.4m worldwide against the 1990 film’s $261.3m) and 2014 Robocop ($58m US domestic against the 1987 film’s $53m). Considering the 2000 Shaft was a multiplex rather than a grindhouse proposition second time around, its $70m US take wasn’t exactly a fantastic advance on the 1971 film’s $51.4m figure (inflation-corrected); same again for the 2010 Karate Kid, which took a flashy $176m in the States (the 1984 film, adjusted, would have been $190.6m). The new-look Total Recall, Robocop and Karate Kid all worked burgeoning noughties overseas markets to varying semblances of profitability. (Karate Kid’s $45m budget, in particular, made the $359.1m global take look tasty.) None, though, can truly be said to have surpassed the originals financially – and certainly not in cultural impact. Point Break, on five times’ the original’s budget, will need $300m before it can start making shaka signs; the adrenalin will kick in on Christmas weekend, when the US and around 20 other markets pull the ripcord.



Bollywatch

With very little of note happening on the worldwide chart pre-Star Wars, now’s a good time to tot up 2015 in India. It’s not been a vintage year, with one stonking Telugu outsider (Baahubali) and two big strikes for Salman Khan (Bajrangi Bhaijaan; Prem Ratan Dhan Payo) obscuring a lack of depth overall compared to 2014. The year was almost halfway over before the fourth placed film, Eros’s romcom sequel Tanu Weds Manu Returns, finally broke the 100-crore ($15m) barrier. Khan’s box-office resilience, though, was undoubted in the face of the culpable-homicide charges of which he was acquitted last week. Maximum points for effort also for Akshay Kumar, who clocked up four movies (Baby, Singh Is Bliing, Gabbar Is Back and Brothers) in the second half of the top 10. But the major story – which industry bias towards Bollywood has consciously or unconsciously downplayed ever since – was how Baahubali’s chutzpah and technical savvy made it both the highest Indian domestic opener (140 crore net) and grosser (500 crore approx) ever. Combining mythic storytelling swagger with Hollywood-worthy battle scenes marshalled on an $18m budget, it made Bollywood’s often-formulaic and materialistic-minded blockbusters look small-time.



Top five Indian films, 2015

1. Baahubali, 500 crore approx (gross)

2. Bajrangi Bhaijaan, 320.3 (net)

3. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, 207.4 (net)

4. Tanu Weds Manu Returns, 152 (net)

5. ABCD2, 105.7 (net)



Looking towards the long term, the Indian domestic box-office record continues to be broken pretty regularly – Baahubali overturned Aamir Khan’s religious satire PK from the turn of the year, which surpassed Khan’s own Dhoom 3 from 2013, passing Chennai Express from earlier that year. (Prior to that, Khan’s 3 Idiots had held the title for four years.) India’s bedded-in star system has probably helped keep big releases buoyant, especially when compared with the more measured pace of record-breaking in the hottest 21st-century market, China. There, with a shallower commercial film tradition, big-name allegiances have been less of a factor: fantasy film Monster Hunt, 2015; Hangover-esque comedy Lost in Thailand, 2012; martial-arts spectacular Painted Skin: The Resurrection, 2012; period caper Let the Bullets Fly, 2010; disaster film Aftershock, 2010. (None of these share a lead actor.) But Chinese box office continues to explode – by almost 50% this year, and at least 30% every year since 2010. India’s A-list hullabaloo – though a boon overseas where its productions currently make far more noise than China’s – distracts from the stagnancy of the market overall. 2014 saw a modest 0.9% increase, from $2bn to $2.02bn, according to a recent report; 2015 is projected at $2.18bn. China used to be the sleeping giant, but India still dozes along half-awake.



Beyond Hollywood

Not exactly banishing the reputation for box-office chicanery that reared its head again last week over Monster Hunt’s historic haul, new entry Surprise – Journey to the West actually beat all Hollywood competition overseas with a $17m Chinese take – just in previews. Yanked forward a week ahead of its 18 December wide release, the fantasy adventure (which looks to be some sort of spoofy spin on the much-plundered Chinese national-mythology staple) had a massive 35,000 early screenings in the first week of winter blackout on new Hollywood released. Two words spring to mind: strings. Pulled. The other Chinese offering was kung-fu contender The Master, 13th globally with $4.2m; directed by The Grandmaster scribe Xu Haofeng, this new wuxia has been praised for back-to-basics belligerence. Last week’s Turkish entry, circumcision comedy Düğün Dernek 2, still hanging on the bottom reaches of Rentrak’s chart, can definitely said to have made the cut now – with $14m and counting, it’s on the cusp of becoming the year’s most successful in that country. Another admirable showing for the industry there – seven out of the current top 10 are homegrown.



The future

Finally cinema can begin to clear the most excruciating case of cultural constipation in recent memory, as Disney finally squeezes out JJ Abrams’ $200m seventh episode of Star Wars in almost all territories this week. Large parts of western Europe, south-east Asia and South Africa get an early taste of The Force Awakens on Wednesday 16, and everyone else follows over the ensuing 48 hours – with only China holding back until 9 January. The hype pitch has built up to such ear-splitting levels over the last few weeks that the film will be written off in some quarters as a failure if it fails to topple Avatar ($2.8bn) at the head of the all-time list. But it’s worth repeating: no prequel or sequel has ever held the No 1 position, either in the US or globally, and no December US opening – including Avatar – has exceeded $90m (so well down on Jurassic World’s $208m record).



Star Wars isn’t the only game in town, though – not if you’re Chinese or Indian. Blackout period in the former creates space for big-budget tomb-hunting caper Mojin: The Lost Legend, which comes with box-office credentials of its own: tracing the footsteps of summer hit Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe, directed by former homegrown champ Painted Skin’s Wuershan, with Bo Huang, Qi Shu and Angelababy maxing out its youth appeal. In India, meanwhile, Disney is caught in a pincer movement between Shah Rukh Khan’s sole 2015 appearance in Rohit Shetty action-romcom Dilwale and historical romance Bajirao Mastani, which slots two of Bollywood’s top-line lead women in Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone into a Maratha empire-era tale. Both films among Bollywood’s most expensive film ever, in combination they should induce Jedi sweats aplenty.



Top 10 global box office, 11-13 December

1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2, $26.7m from 93 territories. $564.4m cumulative – 56.7% international; 43.3% US

2. The Good Dinosaur, $24.8m from 48 territories. $167.9m cum – 46.9% int; 53.1% US

3. In the Heart of the Sea, $23.6m from 53 territories. $50.4m cum – 78.1% int; 21.9% US

4. (New) Surprise – Journey to the West, $17m from 1 territory – 100% int

5. Spectre, $16.9m from 95 territories. $820.6m cum – 76.8% int; 23.2% US

6. Point Break, $12.3m from 8 territories. $34.5m cum – 100% int

7. Krampus, $11.6m from 39 territories. $36.9m cum – 23.8% int; 76.2% US

8. Creed, $10.1m from 1 territory. $85.3m cum – 7% int; 93% US

9. The Martian, $9.5m from 11 territories. $589.1m cum – 62.2% int; 37.8% US

10. Bridge of Spies, $7.3m from 47 territories. $122.7m cum – 43.4% int; 56.6% US



• Thanks to Rentrak. This week’s figures are based on estimates; all historical figures unadjusted, unless otherwise stated.

