Hollywood Box Office News

Foreign Box Office: ‘The Smurfs’ win again Overseas
“Apes” and “Final Destination 5″ repeat in 2 and 3 spots; “Contagion” opens slowly in 6 territories.

Those lovable Blue creatures narrowly maintained their hold on the # 1 weekend box office perch on the foreign theatrical circuit as The Smurfs grossed $14.9 at 7,610 overseas locations in 73 markets.
This brings the total foreign gross accumulated so far by the 3-D Sony Animation co-production to $321 million since its first offshore opening on July 27. The Smurfs took the # 1 spot in Greece, its sole new market this round.

The overall weekend action marks the 5th consecutive weekend that the family oriented live-action-animation has emerged on top of the offshore heap.

The # 1 title domestically, Warner Bros.’ Contagion, director Steven Soderbergh’s SyFy thriller costarring Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Jude Law, opened in 6 foreign markets over the weekend, generating $2.1 million from 544 locations, for a per screen average of $3,860. An Italy debut generated $705,000 from 309 sites. Korea opens Sept. 22.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 20th Century Fox’s latest installment in its decades long feature series, stayed mighty in Latin America. A # 1 2nd weekend in Mexico generated $2.45 million from 1,303 sites for a market take of $9 million.

Weekend in general came up with $12.5 million from a total of 5,554 locations in 60 markets, lifting Apes’ foreign gross total past the $200 million mark ($207.6 million). It ranks # 2 on the weekend.

New Line/Warner’s Final Destination 5 finished #3 nabbing $10.8 million on the weekend from 4,125 screens in 45 markets. Overseas gross total for the latest sequel in the 11-yr-old horror franchise comes to $76.3 million.

# 2 debuts in the UK and Germany plus solid bows in France, Switzerland and Austria boosted the weekend take of Sony’s Friends With Benefits to $10.2 million from a total of 1,725 screens in 20 territories. Foreign take for the romantic comedy costarring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake stands at $29.2 million. It ranks # 4.

# 5 was Paramount’s release of comic book adaptation Captain America: The First Avenger, which opened in China ($5 million over three days from 7,000 sites), and drew $8 million on the weekend overall from 9,039 situations in 60 territories. Foreign take stands at $175 million.

Cowboys & Aliens, also from Paramount, opened # 2 in Brazil ($1.1 million from 244 locations), and generated $5.5 million on the weekend overall from 3,936 venues in 49 territories. Overseas gross total for the SyFy Western costarring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford weighs in at $58.5 million.

Warner’s comedy/drama Horrible Bosses continues to chug along overseas, grossing $5.3 million from 2,125 situations in 51 markets. Its take stands at $78.2 million. A Spain opening is set for this week.

Warner’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 continued its gigantic overseas run by grossing another $3.4 million on the weekend, hoisting its foreign gross total to $944 million.

Opening # 1 in Australia ($2.1 million from 275 screens) was Zookeeper, Sony’s talking animals comedy starring Kevin James. Weekend take in total was $3.3 million from 1,551 situations in 41 markets. Overseas take comes in at $73.1 million.

Raising its aggregate foreign gross to $126.5 million was Paramount’s sci-fi thriller Super 8, which generated $3 million on the weekend at 1,621 locations in 58 markets. A # 1 Italy opening bagged $1.6 million from 380 screens.

Warner’s comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love generated $2.95 million from 1,355 situations in 30 markets for a take of $21 million.

DreamWorks Animation/Paramount’s Kung Fu Panda 2 has grossed $491 million since it opened on the foreign circuit on May 26. Weekend take was $2.6 million from 1,183 venues in 62 markets.

Pushing its foreign take past the $100-million mark ($103.3 million) was Warner’s Green Lantern, which has done reasonably well in Mexico, Brazil and the UK Weekend take was $2.6 million from 2,040 locations in 21 markets.

Fox’s Mr. Popper’s Penguins, a comedy starring Jim Carrey, embraced $2.4 million on the weekend from 1,275 locations in 15 territories, hoisting its overseas take to $108.2 million. A No. 3 South Korea opener contributed $1.4 million to the weekend take from 257 spots.

Maintaining its top spot in Germany was Constantin’s The Three Musketeers, the latest adaptation costarring Logan Lerman and Mila Jovovich of the Alexandre Dumas’ novel, which collected in its second weekend an estimated $2 million from about 650 sites. Market take comes in at about $6.85 million.

Opening # 1 in South Korea was director Jeong Tae-won’s Marrying the Mafia IV: The Family Ordeal, the last comedy sequel about a family of ex-gangsters in the restaurant business. Debut weekend for the Next Entertainment World release generated an estimated $1.75 million from about 460 locations.

New to the France market was Le Pacte’s release of Italian director-actor Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam (We Have A Pope), a drama costarring Michel Piccoli and Moretti about a Pope and his therapist. A # 4 debut at some 220 screens generated an estimated $1.1 million.

Also in France, Mars Distribution’s Presume Coupable (Guilty), director Vincent Garenq’s 2nd feature, a realistic drama about a major judicial scandal, opened No. 6 at about 200 situations for an estimated $865,000.

Other International takes: Pixar Disney’s Cars 2, $358 million ($547 million worldwide); Universal’s The Change-Up, $7.6 million (Universal territories only); Fox’s What A Man, $12.1 million in Germany only; Universal’s The Debt, $3.5 million from four territories including a No. 1 Spain debut for $1.5 million from 271 sites); DreamWorks/Disney’s The Help, $1.4 million; and Fox’s Monte Carlo, $10.1 million.

Also, Paramount’s Transformers: The Dark of the Moon, $765 million; Universal’s Fast Five, $400 million, nearly double its domestic gross); Pathe’s La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I Inhabit), estimated $4.7 million in France only; Universal’s One Day, $12.1 million (Universal territories only); Wild Bunch Distribution’s La Guerre Es Declaree, estimated $2.7 million in France only; Sony’s Bad Teacher, $110.2 million; Universal’s Tu Seras Mon Fils, $4.3 million over 19 days in France only; and Fox’s You Are The Apple Of My Eye, $11.3 million in Taiwan only.

Have some fun, see a movie this week.

All the best,

Monica Petrucci from Tinsel Town

Ebeling Heffernan

Hollywood Box Office News