atchmen failed to entice an international audience to match its huge marketing blitz, extremely wide release and hype as an intended blockbuster, meeting a similar fate as Speed Racer, Max Payne and Body of Lies. In the recent past, domestic duds like The Golden Compass and Poseidon would usually hit their expected grosses overseas, but that's been a tall order lately.
Leading the weekend with a $26.6 million debut from 44 markets Watchmen was low compared to other superhero movies, which generally have smaller overseas totals than domestic. Back in June, The Incredible Hulk grabbed $30.8 million out of the gate from 38 markets and it ultimately fell short of its domestic haul. Watchmen opened at a difficult point on the calendar when local productions tend to dominate, and it lacked the name recognition of a sequel or famous comic book in most parts of the world to overcome the competition. 300 faced a similar situation two years ago, but benefitted from a staggered release schedule to optimize each territory.
Breaking the weekend down, Watchmen performed best in the United Kingdom, where it led with $4.5 million, but that was much worse than The Incredible Hulk's debut and less than half of 300's. Elsewhere, Watchmen mostly ranked second or third in each market. In France, it logged a disappointing $2.5 million, while, in Germany, it recorded a mere third-place $2 million. It squeezed out a win in South Korea, though with a poor $1.4 million start. Even action-oriented Southeast Asia was indifferent to Watchmen. Singapore was its top draw in that region with just $371,157. Latin America, another region favorable to action pictures, was off as well. Watchmen bagged only $790,771 in Brazil and $732,969 in Mexico. Next up are Greece and Hong Kong this weekend and then only Scandinavia, Japan and a few smaller markets remain on the movie's schedule.
