Taste in movies: America and the rest of the world?

Hi Kari,

Thanks for the idea of checking IMDB for box office data. With a little mouse clicking, I was able to find data on how various movies fared here in the USA and in other parts of the world.

I also did a web search and found worldwideboxoffice.com (doh!) and got more data to chew on.

I would guess if I picked up the phone to call you and asked you to name the top five money making movies in the USA in 2003, you could probably rattle them off. For those of us less in the know about movies they are: Finding Nemo, Pirates, Matrix: Reloaded, Bruce Almighty and T3.

Now, for the more tricky question. In relative terms, how well did those movies fare outside the USA?

What I mean is this: if a movie "the Life of Kari" makes $300 million here in the USA and draws $600 million overseas then we would predict the movie "the Life of Rene" which garners $1000 in the USA would bank another $2000 overseas if audience tastes overseas are the same as in the USA. Right?

I know it is a crude back of the envelope type of calculation but I did the numbers.

May I have the envelope please?

Surprised?

Have a nice weekend,
Rene