International Markets Help 'Alice Through the Looking Glass'

Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland, has been all but officially designated a bomb at the American box office after a disappointing opening weekend. But the film's performance in international markets has not been that terrible, and its foreign receipts provide a bright spot in the otherwise grim story of its release.

Through the Looking Glass debuted over Memorial Day weekend amid extremely poor reviews and off-set news that Johnny Depp had been served with a restraining order by his ex-wife, Amber Heard, who accused him of domestic abuse. In addition, the film faced difficult competition from X-Men: Apocalypse. While Alice had been widely predicted to take in around $60 million over the weekend, it took in less than half that, leading observers to declare its opening a disaster.

Abroad, though, the film's performance was somewhat better. In 80 foreign markets, the film took in $65 million over the weekend, putting it in first place internationally among all films. That total was well ahead of the $55 million that X-Men: Apocalypse took in, although the X-Men film had debuted internationally a week earlier.

By the end of the weekend, Through the Looking Glass had a total gross of nearly $100 million. That's a respectable number, but it still indicates that the film will not come close to the overall performance of its predecessor.