10 Hollywood Blockbusters That Were Saved By The Overseas Box Office
6. Need For Speed (2014)
Worldwide Box Office: $203.3 million (78.6% Overseas)
When the movie adaptation of the racing video game Need For Speed received mostly negative reviews and grossed just $17.8 million in its opening weekend in the U.S., analysts called it yet another failed video game movie and said TV star Aaron Paul was miscast as a movie leading man. Those pronouncements were premature, at least for the rest of the world; Need For Speed grossed $66.2 million in China, $13.9 million in Russia, and $4.5 million in Malaysia. Its $159.7 international box office more than doubled its $66 million budget.
While Need For Speed still wasn’t a huge hit and Disney has passed on making a sequel, the film’s excellent performance in China has led to China Movie Channel to acquire the rights to make its own sequel set in China. While it is unlikely that Paul will return, a sequel with strong ties to China would potentially be huge at the Chinese box office based on the strong international performance of the original.