Boy-centric YA film adaptation The Maze Runner continued to rule at the international box office, winning the weekend race with $27.5 million from 62 markets and pushing the movie’s early foreign total to $91 million for a worldwide haul of $149 million.
The 20th Century Fox title easily beat Denzel Washington‘s The Equalizer as that film began its worldwide assault, earning $17.8 million from more than 65 foreign markets. Equalizer, from Sony and Village Roadshow Pictures, excelled in its North American launch, topping the domestic chart with $35 million (Washington’s films have always done more business in the U.S.).
Maze Runner is a sensation in parts of Asia, including South Korea, where it has earned $12.2 million in its first two weeks, surpassing the lifetime earnings of Guardians of the Galaxy and the first two Hunger Games. In Malaysia, Maze Runner‘s three-week total is $5 million, making it the third-biggest Fox title of all time after Avatar and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
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Elsewhere around the globe, Maze Runner earned another $2.7 million in Australia this weekend, beating Equalizer, and pushing its total to $8.1 million.
Read more Fox Already Plotting ‘Maze Runner’ Sequel, Sets 2015 Release Date
Equalizer did beat Maze Runner in Russia ($2.7 million versus $2.6 million), but Maze Runner has nevertheless racked up an impressive $10.2 million in its first two weeks of play, easily surpassing the entire lifetime gross of dystopian YA adaptation Divergent.
Maze Runner has yet to open in China, the U.K., France, Germany and Italy.
Sony says Equalizer came in on the upper end for a Denzel Washington film overall. The U.K. led with $2.9 million, enough for a first-place finish. And in Russia, it was the actor’s biggest opening. Mexico delivered $1.4 million, followed by Brazil with $1.3 million.
Two months in, Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, is on the brink of crossing $400 million globally, a historic feat for a female-fueled action property. The film took in $11.1 million over the weekend from 63 markets, including a stellar $3.2 million Italian debut, for a foreign total of $269.1 million and global cume of $394.6 million (its domestic haul is $125.5 million).
Read more Scarlett Johansson’s ‘Lucy’ Opens Strong in Russia
Universal teamed on Lucy with director Luc Besson‘s EuropaCorp.
Fox’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is also preparing to celebrate a milestone as it nears $700 million worldwide. The sequel has earned nearly $500 million overseas, including $107 million in China, for a global total of $693.6 million.
