Put them all on your must-watch list.
More and more, it is becoming apparent that Hollywood and the American box office is no longer the be-all-and-end-all for movies to be graded as a success.
Sure, Black Panther did fantastically well in the States, with just about half of its $1.3 billion global take coming from there alone, but looking further down the top ten biggest box office hits of 2018 so far, and that rule doesn’t apply.
Ready Player One has made just shy of $400 million worldwide so far, but only $97 million of that has come from America.
Same goes for Pacific Rim Uprising ($267 million worldwide/$55 million in the US), Tomb Raider ($263 million worldwide/$53 million in the US), and Fifty Shades Freed ($368 million worldwide/$100 in the US).
More and more regularly, movies are making bank in the worldwide market, especially in China and the Asian market, and nowhere is that more apparent than with the fact that three of 2018’s ten biggest earners have made barely any money in America.
So if you’re looking to expand your cinematic horizons to something a bit more global, but just as populist as anything released by Hollywood, then check these three out, with their box office takings and 2018 worldwide positions as of the time of writing:
Operation Red Sea
US Box Office: $1.5 million
Worldwide Box Office: $568 million (No.2 for 2018 worldwide)
Plot: This is a war movie that is loosely based on the evacuation of the 225 foreign nationals and almost 600 Chinese citizens from Yemen’s southern port of Aden during late March in the 2015 Yemeni Civil War.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
Choice Review: “Despite only being three months into 2018, I’m not afraid to call Operation Red Sea one of the best action films of the year.” – Film Inquiry
Clip via Movieclips Film Festivals & Indie Films
Detective Chinatown 2
US Box Office: $2 million
Worldwide Box Office: $532 million (No.3 for 2018 worldwide)
Plot: This action-comedy kicks off when the case of New York Chinatown godfather Uncle Qi’s missing son turns into a murder investigation, the detective duo Tang and Qin team up again to hunt down the killer – this time with some help from the International Detective Alliance. We looked at the trailer several times in search for a single identifiable joke. Maybe you need to have watched the first one to get it…?
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 50%
Choice Review: “The script blasts through reams of plot with lightning dialogue, and even if you have a fast eye for subtitles you may come to the end of the movie with no clear idea what happened.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Clip via Movieclips Film Festivals & Indie Films
Monster Hunt 2
US Box Office: $0.7 million
Worldwide Box Office: $358 million (No.6 for 2018 worldwide)
Plot: Peace has not been restored in the monster world after the death of the evil monster king as a sinister lord has ascended and seized the throne. A heavy bounty is placed on Wuba dead or alive, forcing him to go into hiding again. No, we don’t know what any of that means, either.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%
Choice Review: “Monster Hunt 2 is so perfectly good-natured and so utterly nonsensical that it makes not-thinking-about-it basically an act of self-preservation, for which, bless its bouncing, gurgling, flolloping heart.” – Variety
Clip via Rapid Trailers
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