Three bows put Warner Bros. run into back on top overseas
As the summer season comes to a close, klieg lights are shining on a clutch of films before vacation periods end and the trek back to school day begins. Warner Bros.' "The Dark Knight" regained the overseas lead -- fifty-fifty as it relinquished the No. 1 domestic position after a four-week pedestal -- reaching a foreign gross of $328.6 million with its weekend take of $42.4 from 7,775 screens in 61 markets.
Universal's "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," the international champ for two successive weekends, eased into second property, but maintained a hot pace by grossing $29.1 zillion and lifting its cume to $193.5 1000000.
Universal's musical entry "Mamma Mia!" passed the $200 million sign as it pulled in $17.6 million from 2,679 playdates in 25 countries. Disney/Pixar's "WALL-E," meanwhile, added $13.2 million and raised its international gross to $145.8 million.
Joining the top of the inning foreign grossers this weekend was Sony's Adam Sandler starrer "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," which racked up $11.2 million thanks to key dates in the U.K., Germany and Brazil.
Warner Bros.' "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," the CG-animated effort from George Lucas, opened to $7.4 million from $3,260 in 22 markets, arriving No. 6 in the U.K. with $1.6 million from 419, No. 2 in Mexico with $1.2 million from 678 and No. 4 in Australia with $1.2 meg from 267.
For "Knight," it was a vindication of its ability to appeal foreign moviegoers. The c. H. Best the Caped Crusader antecedently had done overseas was $166.5 million for 2005's "Batman Begins."
"Knight's" return to foreign laterality was fueled by cover bows in France ($9.5 1000000 from 850 screens), Spain ($7.1 million from 570) and Russia ($3.5 1000000 from 610). In second-weekend action in Korea, "Knight" ($5.2 million from 373) held off the debut of two local films and reached a cume of $14.3 million. The second weekend in Japan, however, grossed just $1.6 jillion for a cume of $8.7 million.
Japan welcomed "Mummy" in the No. 2 spot ($7 million from 326 screens) behind Hayao Miyazaki's animated tale "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" ($7.7 million from 481), which has henpecked the local boxoffice basketball team weeks in a run-in for allocator Toho with a cume of $90 million.
"Mummy" has reached an international gross of $193.5 million thanks to strong holdovers in the U.K., Germany and Taiwan as well as solid openings in Belgium ($1.2 million from 62) and Vietnam ($177,000 from 18), which Universal hailed as the biggest opening in that country's history.
As "Mamma Mia!" climbed to $205.9 million, Universal trumpeted that it was the first-class honours degree of the studio's films to make it $200 gazillion this year despite the fact that they noneffervescent have "more than than 35 territories in time to release." The film's only novel weekend opening was in Spain, which tallied $4.8 jillion from 352 screens.
"WALL-E" opened in three small markets, with Thailand recording $783,000 from 119 screens, called the second-biggest Disney animated gap in the market. Top cumes to date include the U.K. with $37.9 1000000 in four weeks; France, $16.9 million in two; and Mexico, $16.9 million in six.
"Zohan," which stayed away from the tentpoles in the early region of the summer, opened No. 1 in Germany with $5.1 zillion from 593, No. 3 in the U.K. ($3 million from 392) and No. 3 in Brazil ($880,000 from 121).
New weekend openings included Paramount's "Tropic Thunder," $2.6 million from three markets; Fox's "Mirrors," $661,746 from 11 markets, and Fox's "Taken," $3.3 million from Australia, Italy and Spain.
More weekend military action: "Kung Fu Panda," $5.9 jillion (cume: $363.7 zillion); "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," $5.7 million (cume: $262.2 million); "Wanted," $2.5 million (cume: $126.5 million); "Hancock," $3.8 million (cume: $339.4 million); "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," $3.5 one thousand thousand (cume: $36.5 one thousand thousand); "Meet Dave," $2.6 million (cume: $22.7 million); "Get Smart," $1.8 billion (cume: $76.7 million).
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