Two Fox films sailed past international box office plateaus this weekend, but Sony's Battle: Los Angeles commanded the foreign theatrical circuit by generating $28.7 million from 8,344 screens in 55 markets.
Battle Los Angeles: Film ReviewRango: Film ReviewThe Adjustment Bureau: Review (Film)FILM REVIEW: Anthony Hopkins' 'The Rite' Starts Off Promising, Then Becomes LudicrousSony said the special-effects extravaganza premiered at 3,968 China locations, the market's widest release ever for a foreign film, and raked in $11 million there. Also driving the tally were six additional No. 1 market openings in Australia ($2.6 million from 328 sites), Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Hungary. A No. 2 France bow drew $1.9 million from 295 spots.
Battle: L.A.'s total overseas gross accumulated over a dozen days stands at $51.6 million. The latest weekend gross is the highest of any No. 1 weekend tally recorded this year on the foreign circuit.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/battle-los-angeles-tops-international-169435Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox's The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader passed the $300 million mark overseas, and Black Swan breached the $175 million barrier.
The exhibition situation in Japan remains parlous, according to major studio reports, although box office is showing small gains.
Some 130 theaters in the Tokyo metropolitan area and in the northern section of Japan's main island of Honshu -- where the earthquake-tsunami devastation and radiation fears are most intense -- continue to face power shortages. The sites are either closed or limiting operations to daytime showings.
As a result, weekday business during the last stanza dropped about 70% from normal levels, although box office stemming from theaters in southern Japan remains relatively steady. (As of last year, there were some 3,400 screens throughout Japan in about 680 theaters.)
Paramount pushed ahead with its Japan opening of True Grit at 28 locations for an estimated three-day tally of $250,000, or a nearly $9,000 per-screen average. With a public holiday due Monday, the distributor said that "should increase nicely." Weekend in general for the Coen brothers' Western update came to $2.38 million from 1,552 sites in 40 territories for a foreign cume of $71.5 million.
Disney reported that Tangled drew an estimated $1.9 million from 326 locations in Japan, a 7% increase from the prior weekend's gross. Overall this weekend, the 3D update of the Rapunzel tale gathered $3.5 million from 2,031 screens in 33 markets for an overseas gross total of $361 million.
In its third Japan round at 264 screens, Sony's The Tourist squeaked out $1.47 million, about a 3% boost from the prior weekend's action. Overseas cume for the Johnny Depp-Angelina Jolie vehicle stands at $200.4 million, of which $12.4 million originates from Japan.
Fourth-round Japan box office for Dawn Treader picked up more than 1% from the previous weekend to $1.5 million drawn from 621 venues. Japan cume totals $21.9 million, pushing the film's overall foreign take to $301 million.
Finishing No. 2 overall was Paramount's Rango, which was first the previous weekend. A strong Russia debut ($4.2 million from 650 spots) and a first-place Israel bow for the animation title voiced by Depp spurred the total weekend tally to $18.4 million from 5,496 situations in 49 markets. The foreign take so far is $72.4 million accumulated since March 2. A France opening is due Wednesday.
Claiming the No. 3 weekend spot, Academy Award winner The King's Speech shot past the $220 million mark in foreign box office (cume $221 million) thanks to a $10.8 million round at 4,118 screens in 56 markets. In Japan via Gaga Communications, Speech grossed $571,058 from 124 screens for a market cume of $7.76 million. A No. 1 fifth stanza in Germany yielded $1.7 million from 570 sites, for a cume there of $14.7 million.
Warner Bros.' The Rite, the supernatural drama starring Anthony Hopkins -- which the studio pulled from weekend Japan release -- grossed $7.1 million from 2,185 screens in 42 other markets, sufficient for a No. 4 ranking overall. Its international cume stands at $46.1 million.
Universal opened Sluzhebnyy roman -- Nashe vremya (Office Romance) at 651 screens in Russia and came up with a No. 1 market ranking. The Russian-made comedy sequel directed by Sarik Andreasyan -- an update of a 1977 original about a harassed bureaucrat and his pushy female boss -- grossed an estimated $5.89 million, and finished No. 5 on the weekend.
Black Swan collected $5.8 million from 3,977 screens in 42 markets, driving the Natalie Portman starrer to a foreign cume of $175.4 million.
Warners' release of Torrente 4, the latest in a Spanish-language series of comedies from actor-director Santiago Segura, remained No. 1 in Spain in its second market weekend, generating $5.5 million from 780 screens for a market cume of $20 million.
Universal's The Adjustment Bureau pushed its foreign cume to $32 million thanks to a $5.3 million weekend at 2,222 screens in 38 territories. A No. 1 Taiwan debut generated $543,739 from 81 sites for a per-screen average of $6,713. The romantic thriller starring Matt Damon opens in six markets, including France, this week.
Opening No. 1 in Austria and No. 2 in Germany ($1.4 million from 401 sites) was DreamWorks' I Am Number Four, the sci-fi thriller being distributed by Disney. Its overall weekend tally was also $5.3 million drawn from 3,412 situations in 38 markets, pushing the pic's overseas total gross to $65.1 million and its global take to slightly more than $118 million.
The animated Gnomeo & Juliet has so far accumulated a foreign gross of $57.8 million via myriad distributors including Pathe and Disney. The latter distributed the picture on the weekend at 1,662 screens in 15 markets for a gross of $3.6 million. Disney territories have contributed $19.3 million to the total cume.
Sony's Just Go With It, the romantic comedy co-starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, opened No. 1 in South Africa and grossed $4.77 million on the weekend overall from 1,685 screens in 33 markets for a foreign cume of $52.2 million. Disney's animation title Mars Needs Moms collected $4 million on its second weekend on the foreign circuit at 1,291 sites in 21 markets for a pallid foreign cume of $9.5 million.
Warner Bros. introduced Red Riding Hood, director Catherine Hardwicke's medieval horror title starring Amanda Seyfried, at 1,020 screens in nine territories for a weekend tally of $3.8 million. Early cume stands at $5.6 million.
Hall Pass, the Warners' comedy from the Farrelly brothers, pushed its overseas cume to $14.4 million thanks to a $3.7 million weekend at 1,500 screens in 20 markets.
Paramount's romantic comedy No Strings Attached pulled $3.2 million from 1,506 locations in 39 markets for an overseas cume to date of $58.3 million. Fox's Martin Lawrence comedy Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son registered $2.8 million at 1,838 screens in 40 territories for a foreign cume of $29.9 million.
In France, Studio Canal's Ma part du gateau (My Slice of the Cake) took the No. 1 market spot with an opening tally of $2.9 million drawn from 482 screens. The drama, directed by Cedric Klapisch, pits a Paris cleaning woman against her employer, an affluent stock trader.
Other international cumes: Warner Bros. and other distributors' Unknown, $43.9; Universal's Paul, $28.3 million (after a $1.6 million weekend at 617 sites in five markets); Fox and other distributors' 127 Hours, $23.4 million (Fox territories only); SND's Les femmes du 6eme etage (The Women on the Sixth Floor), $15.3 million over five rounds in France only; Fox's Gulliver's Travels, $175.3 million; Paramount's Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, $10.6 million; Fox's Unstoppable, $87.7 million; Pathe's Le Marquis, $3.5 million over two stanzas in France only; and Fox's Never Let Me Go, $4.4 million.
Also, Universal and other distrib's Sanctum, $55 million; Sony's Just Go With It, $52.2 million; Focus Features' Biutiful, $17 million; Fox's Love & Other Drugs, $65.2 million; Universal/Focus Features' The American, $32.2 million; Paramount's Morning Glory, $21.9 million; Focus Features and other distributors' The Kids Are All Right, $13.9 million; Fox's Love Carrot 3, $8.2 million; Focus Features' The Eagle, $6.8 million; Sony's Burlesque, $49.9 million; Universal's Julia's Eyes, $13.1 from four markets; Sony's The Social Network, $127.6 million; Focus Features' Another Year, $14.1 million; Sony's Faster, $10.4 million; and Focus Features' Somewhere, $12.2 million.
