EXCLUSIVE: Pablo Larraín’s Maria has become the Chilean filmmaker’s highest grossing movie at the international box office. With $23.3M from 54 overseas markets, the Angelina Jolie-starrer this week overtook both Spencer ($17.8M) and Jackie ($23M) outside of North America. Maria is still in release in multiple markets with Korea, Lithuania and Norway on deck, among others. Fremantle fully financed and FilmNation handled worldwide sales on the Maria Callas biopic.
Maria is the third film in Larraín’s English-language triptych exploring iconic female protagonists, following 2016’s Jackie and 2021’s Spencer. It reimagines American-Greek soprano Callas in her final days as she reckons with her identity and life.
The Steven Knight-scripted drama had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last September, with Italy ultimately becoming the movie’s top offshore market to date. The gross there, where RAI distributes, is $3.32M.
Via Studiocanal, Germany is the second biggest market with $3.1M. Rounding out the Top 10 are France ($2.45M/A.R.P.), UK & Ireland ($2.2M/Studiocanal), Spain ($1.45M/Sun), Netherlands ($1.33M/The Searchers), Greece ($1.03M/Faliro House/Cinobo), Poland ($946K/Studiocanal), Australia ($844K/Kismet) and Turkey ($827K/Yeni Bir Film).
The film also played the BFI London Film Festival and Camerimage as well as the São Paulo, Stockholm, Thessaloniki, Red Sea and Rotterdam festivals, among many others.
Maria was nominated for an Oscar for Ed Lachman’s cinematography, and Jolie notched a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Says FilmNation Entertainment CEO Glen Basner, “Pablo’s mastery as a filmmaker has redefined the biopic genre, and to see the final chapter of his iconic trilogy become his highest grossing film internationally is a testament to his singular vision and the powerful connection he’s built with audiences worldwide.”
Larraín’s other films as director include Tony Manero, No, The Club, Neruda and El Conde. Also a prolific producer, he produced Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman which was the first Chilean film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (now Best International Feature).
Netflix handled Maria in the U.S. while Mubi released in Canada.
