Foreign Box Office: 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I' Sags 49% But Still No. 1 Overseas

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Still bloody torrid overseas, Summit International’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I held its No. 1 box office grip for the second consecutive weekend on the foreign theatrical circuit, grossing $76 million -- $4.5 million more than Sunday’s projection -- from some 10,500 locations in 68 markets.

The fourth installment of the Twilight saga based on Stephanie Meyer’s novels has already generated $277 million offshore -- $77 million more than the entire foreign gross compiled by series original, 2008’s Twilight. Although it dropped 49% from its opening gross last weekend, Breaking Dawn still rolled up some mighty market numbers.

A No. 1 debut in Germany yielded $10.8 million from 789 sites, pushing the market cume (including previews) to $13.6 million.  In The U.K., Breaking Dawn drew another No. 1 ranking with a weekend tally of $7 million, hoisting its market cume to $36.4 million. Cumes in Spain ($18.5 million), Italy ($18 million), Australia ($20.4 million), France ($22.5 million) and Russia ($27 million) remain robust.  A South Korea opening is due this week.  

Meanwhile, local language comedies are flourishing in several European markets – Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and in Switzerland – but none more so than Intouchables in France. The Gaumont release based on a true story about a wealthy quadriplegic and his caretaker from the projects has grossed $85.1 million in France over four rounds.

Latest weekend saw the caustic comedy costarring Francois Cluzet and tv comedian Omar Sy corral an estimated $16 million from 722 situations. Intouchables is the highest grossing French title in the market this year, and will soon be 2011’s biggest release in the market, period. It ranks No. 2 on the weekend.

No. 3, Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn, flew past the $200-million foreign gross total mark over the weekend ($201.2 million). The stop-motion animation in 3D opened offshore on Oct. 26. Latest weekend for the joint Sony-Paramount release generated $12.5 million from about 12,000 venues in 55 markets. Its North American debut is set for Dec. 21.

Sony Animation’s coproduction of seasonal family title Arthur Christmas drew $11.6 million from some 4,027 screens in 24 markets, lifting its early foreign cume to $22.7 million.  A France debut contributed a No. 5 ranking with slightly more than $1.5 million generated from 681 spots. It ranks No. 4 on the weekend.

Ranking No. 5 on the weekend was Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet Two, Village Roadshow’s family-oriented animation sequel to 2006’s Happy Feet, about an amiable penguin. Second weekend of overseas play generated $10.4 million from some 3,700 screens in 27 markets, lifting the early cume to $14.4 million.    

Introducing itself in eight markets was DreamWorks Animation’s Puss In Boots, which generated a total of $10.3 million overall on the weekend at 1,632 venues in 13 markets. Biggest of the debut markets, as per distributor Paramount, was Spain where the 3D animation generated $5 million from 381 locations. Openings in 14 territories are due this week including France, Mexico and India. Puss In Boots’ overseas cume: $64.1 million.

Thanks to debuts in nine markets, Tower Heist drew a weekend tally of $7.3 million from 2,700 locations in 45 territories. The crime caper costarring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy performed best in Russia ($2.8 million at 411spots), distributor Universal’s biggest comedy opening ever in the market. Overseas gross total stands at $36.1 million.

Buoyed by four new market openings, 20th Century Fox’s In Time grossed $6.5 million on the weekend at 1,944 screens in 54 markets.  Foreign gross total so far for this sci-fi/thriller costarring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried is $71.1 million.  

Fox said on Nov. 22 that its foreign boxoffice for 2011 passed $2-billion, making n the studio the first ever to exceed that gross benchmark five times in a given calendar year. Paramount, Disney and Warners had already grossed more than $2 billion in 2011 offshore box office. (Disney has grossed $1 billion or more in foreign b.o. for 17 years in a row.)

Disney’s Real Steel, the sci-fi-action vehicle starring Hugh Jackman, drew $5.1 million on the weekend in its eighth round of foreign release in 45 markets. Foreign cume stands at $168.4 million. Disney also introduced The Muppets in a couple of markets for a tentative $1.6 million, with a Mexico opening accounting for $1.5 million of the total for this live-action animation update based on the Jim Henson characters.     

Opening No. 3 in the U.K. via Entertainment Film Distributors was The Weinstein Co./BBC Films coproduction, My Week With Marilyn, director Simon Curtis screen recollection of Monroe and Laurence Olivier during the ill-fated making of 1956’s The Princess and the Showgirl. First weekend for the Michelle Williams-Eddie Redmayne-Kenneth Branagh vehicle looks to gross an estimated $1.16 million drawn from 397 locations.

Premiering in the No. 1 spot in Japan was Kaibutsu-kun: The Movie, Toho’s 3D screen adaptation of a hit Nippon Television Network series, which drew $7.4 million from 446 spots. Ranking in first place in South Korea Lotte Cinema’s release of director Hwang Byeong-kuk’s police drama, Special Investigations Unit. Opening round looks to generate an estimated $2.35 million from some 546 locations.

Ranking No. 4 in Japan was Sony’s Moneyball, the baseball saga starring Brad Pitt, which collected $3.3 million on the weekend overall from 1,272 screens in 19 markets.  Early foreign cume stands at $21.8 million.

Full weekend figures for Relativity Media’s Immortals come to $13.9 million derived from 48 territories. Universal reports that the sword and sandal saga drew $3.9 million from the eight territories the studio is handling for a Universal cume so far of $18.7 million. Relativity provided a $91 million cume figure accounting for boxoffice from all distributors.

Other international cumes: Sony’s Jack and Jill, $7.9 million (after a $1.3 million weekend at 765 screens in 10 markets);The Weinstein Co.’s The Artist, $13.5 million; Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 3, $96.9 million; Universal’s A Dangerous Method, $3.5 million; Disney’s The Lion King 3D, $67.1 million; Universal’s Johnny English Reborn, $151.6 million of which $32.3 million was registered in 50 days in the U.K.; Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, $305.9 million; Disney’s The Help, $30.1 million; Morgan Creek’s The Thing, $6.6 million (in Universal-handled territories only); and Fox’s You Are The Apple of My Eye, $23.3 million from four Asian markets.

Also, Universal’s The Debt, $13.9 million; The Weinstein Co.’s I Don’t Know How She Does It, $20.1 million; Focus Features/Universal’s One Day, $40.3 million; Universal/Focus Features’ Jane Eyre, $18.3 million; and Focus Features’ Beginners, $8.3 million.