'Iron Lady' makes strong bow in Spain, U.K

LONDON -- One week before it widens in the U.S., Pathe's Meryl Streep starrer "The Iron Lady" is gripping Spain and Blighty. In Spain, the film's box office perf could be seen as a bellwether for the pic's prospects in territories where the words "Margaret Thatcher" do not prompt a knee-jerk reaction. It punched a standout Euros 1.3 million ($1.7 million) off 211 screens for a robust $7,755 screen average, ranking No. 2 in the charts after "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows." "'Iron Lady' was seen in Spain as a Meryl Streep film, not a movie about Margaret Thatcher," said analyst Pau Brunet at boxoffice.com. "Streep is Spain's biggest femme star. She's a brand and guarantee," he said. Distributor Miguel Morales at Wanda Films said the film was positioned "as one about a woman, not specific politics." "The film bowed at the highest level of our expectations," Morales said, adding that it could gross $5 million-$6.5 million in Spain -- a banner trawl. Pic also bowed in Blighty and Oz last weekend, where it grossed solid figures despite a polarized response from the media: In the U.K., pic came in third, behind "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" and "Sherlock Holmes," tallying $3.3 million from 444 screens, while Down Under pic entered eighth for the weekend, taking $1.2 million from 157 screens. While few Brit pics in recent memory have ignited such a debate, with Thatcher being either an idolized political figure or a loathed one, U.K. figures beat out Pathe's "The Queen" (which took $1.3 million from 347 screens in its first weekend in 2006), and trail behind "Slumdog Millionaire," which grossed $4.3 million from an initial 324 screens in January 2009. "This result isn't a surprise for us," said Pathe managing director Cameron McCracken. "There is an expectation that this film would work, and the reason why is because Meryl Streep is a star and, love her or loathe her, Margaret Thatcher is a global figure, so also a star." And while the $3 million-$4 million of P&A that has been spent on the pic in Britain has undoubtedly helped create awareness, pic has sparked numerous political articles evocative of Thatcher. But McCracken says that the brand recognition of the pic and national debate, whether positive or negative, has been beneficial to the box office numbers. "The longer the media talks about it, the more likely the audience will make their way to it." John Hopewell contributed to this article. Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com