Backed by 7,700 screens in 90 territories, 20th Century Fox’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” took command of the overseas market during the weekend with a $39 million gross as the major studios vied for positioning for the upcoming holiday season.
Fox International said it is projecting No. 1 market shares for the day-and-date release in 53 of 90 markets.
Russia, with $5.6 million from 721 screens, was “Earth’s” biggest No. 1 supporter, followed by the U.K. ($4.1 million from 466 with previews), Spain ($2.9 million from 468) and Italy ($2.5 million).
France ($3.3 million from 606), Mexico ($2.9 million from 1,121) and Germany ($2.7 from 804) welcomed the remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic in second place.
“The opening of ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ is a great start for Fox International this holiday season,” co-chairmen Paul Hanneman and Tomas Jegeus said. “With the key markets of Japan, Korea, Australia and Brazil still to come, we look forward to a terrific run.”
“Earth” markets that missed the No. 1 position in weekend openings all placed No. 2 to Paramount/DreamWorks’ animated “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” which registered a weekend gross of $33.6 million from 5,338 locations in 46 territories, lifting its foreign gross to $172.7 million. “Madagascar 2” opened in 11 new markets, topped by Brazil’s $4 million bow at No. 1.
Strong holdovers also helped the film, with Germany bringing in $20.6 million in two weeks, followed by France’s $16.2 million, the U.K.’s $15 million and Mexico’s $9.2 million.
“Twilight” pulled in an estimated $10.7 million from 2,500 scrsens in 24 markets. Australia opened at No. 1 with $3.5 million for the weekend. Spain, Italy and Mexico held strong with estimated $9.2 million, $14.9 million and 7.8 million, respectively.
“Twilight’s” overseas cume is $50 million.
James Bond also remained a force, with Sony’s “Quantum of Solace” raising its overseas cume to $367 million after a weekend take of $5.2 million from 4,200 screens in 70 markets.
Disney Animation’s “Bolt” pulled in $4.1 million from 1,942 screens in 11 countries (cume: $28 million), while Disney/Pixar’s “WALL-E,” playing its final territory, held the No. 1 position for a second weekend in Japan, tallying $4 million from 350 screens for a market cume of $12 million. Its international cume has reached $276.8 million.
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