While foreign theatrical circuit experienced a listless weekend overall, a strong France opener buttressed by generous holdover numbers in Russia and China propelled Journey 2: The Mysterious Island to No. 1 status for the second consecutive weekend.

 

Overall weekend take for the Warner Bros./New Line/Walden Media family adventure costarring Josh Hutcherson and Dwayne Johnson totaled an estimated $27.5 million – just $2.5 million shy of the prior weekend’s number – drawn from 8,249 locations in 43 markets. Overseas gross total stands at $130 million.

 

Journey 2’s No. 2 France debut generated $3.1 million (including previews) at 436 locations, which Warner’s said was 51% larger than the take generated in the market by the film’s 2008 predecessor Journey To The Center Of The Earth.

Second round in China delivered an estimated $9.5 million from 3,361 sites for a market cume of $36.2 million. Russia came through with $4.1 million from 1,001 sites in the second round for a market cume of $13.5 million.

 

Thanks largely to solid premiers in Russia ($5.9 million from 1,049 screens), Australia ($3.1 million from 338 sites), 20^th Century Fox’s This Means War opened offshore to $11.2 million drawn from 1,956 spots in 16 territories. (It ranked second on the weekend overall.)

 

That was “a very promising beginning considering only two of the top 10 international markets released this past weekend,” as per Fox. The romantic comedy costarring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine andThomas Hardy also opened No. 1 in Hong Kong, averaging more than $6,000 per-screen there.

 

Opening softly in 10 markets was Warner’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which drew $2.6 million from 909 screens. The best-picture Oscar contender premiered No. 5 in Japan ($1.2 million from 309 screens) but No. 12 in the U.K. ($589,349 from 300 spots for a per-screen average of $1,964).

 

No. 3 was Fox’s reissue in 3D of 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which grossed $10.4 million on the weekend at 4,530 venues in 62 territories, lifting its offshore cume to $37.6 million.

 

Fourth was Fox’s release of The Descendants starring George Clooney, which opened No. 3 in Italy ($1.5 million drawn from 280 screens), and wound up grossing $7.9 million on the weekend overall from 3,058 sites in 50 markets. As a result, the best-picture Oscar candidate hoisted its overseas cume to $68.8 million.

 

Boosted by half-term school holiday business in the U.K., Disney’s The Muppets, scored $5.4 million on the weekend at 539 spots, warranting a No. 2 market ranking. Market cume over 10 days comes to $10.7 million. Overall, the live-action/animation family comedy grossed on the weekend $7.6 million from 42 territories including the U.K., lifting its overseas gross total to $59.1 million. It took the weekend’s No. 5 spot.

 

Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol starring Tom Cruise propelled its foreign gross total to $463.5 million thanks to a $7.4 million weekend at 3,998 venues in 65 territories.

 

Sony’s release of The Vow, which placed second in the U.S. and Canada, held the No. 1 spot in New Zealand, and yielded $7 million on the weekend overall at 1,588 screens in 24 markets.  Foreign cume for the romantic comedy costarring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum stands at $23 million.

 

Making its debut in 10 mostly smaller offshore markets, Universal’s Safe House, the weekend’s No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada, drew $6.5 million overseas from 1,868 locations in 35 markets, pushing the early foreign gross total for the CIA crime thriller costarring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds to $20.5 million.  Openings in 11 additional markets including the U.K., France and Germany are due this week.

 

Sony’s Adam Sandler comedy Jack and Jill has grossed $601 million since opening overseas on Nov. 9. Weekend tally was $5 million derived from 2,410 screens in 68 territories. 

 

Columbia Pictures’ coproduction, Ghost Rider 3D: Spirit of Vengeance – the weekend’s No. 3 title in the U.S. and Canada — opened No. 3 via local distribs in the U.K. and France, and took the No. 7 spot in South Korea. The Nicolas Cage-as-Marvel comics superhero vehicle grossed an estimated $4 million from the three markets.

 

Steven Spielberg’s War Horse has grossed $54.7 million overseas so far thanks in part to a $4.7 million weekend playing in 41 markets. Hugo, director Martin Scorsese’s best-picture Oscar contender, also grossed $4.7 million at 1,456 situations in 25 markets being handled by Paramount. Paramount’s cume for the film stands at $27.7 million.

 

Broadening its foreign run by nine new markets, The Weinstein Co.’s The Artist generated $4.2 million from 1,842 screens in a total of 28 territories.  Overseas cume to date for the best-picture Oscar contender comes to $44.7 million of which $17.4 million originates in the film’s native market (France) and $10.5 million from the U.K.  Worldwide, the film has grossed $72 million.

 

Sony’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is nearing the $120-million-mark in total overseas gross ($119.5 million) due to a $3.9 million weekend at 2,387 locations in 66 markets. Same distrib’s Underworld: Awakening, the Kate Beckinsale werewolf-versus-vampire sequel, grossed $4.1 million on the weekend (from Sony and other distributors) at 1,284 locations in 63 markets, boosting its overseas cume to $77.8 million.

 

Fox’s Chronicle, the action/sci-fi vehicle about high schoolers with supernatural powers, pushed its overseas gross total to $30.5 million thanks to a $3.7 million weekend playing at 1,721 locations in 41 markets. 

 

Market leaders in an assortment of key territories:

 

n      Maintaining its grip on the No. 1 spot in the U.K. is The Woman In Black, the horror-thriller starring Daniel Radcliffe, which collected $5.5 million in its second round at 433 spots, elevating its market cume to $16.6 million.

 

n      Holding the No. 1 slot in France is La verite si je mens 3 (Would I Lie To You? 3), which registered $5.1 million in its third stanza at 1,051 screens. The comedy about a group of Parisian textile merchants lifted its market cume to $30.8 million.

 

n      In Japan, Fox’s In Time, New Regency’s sci-fi thriller costarring Justin Timberlake andAmanda Seyfried, opened No. 1, grossing $4.6 million at 427 locales, and elevating its total international gross to $112.7 million.

 

n      No. 1 in Italy for the second straight round was Medusa Films’ Com’e bello far l’amore (How Nice To Make Love), a sex comedy in 3-D which grossed $2 million at 528 situations, raising its market total to $6.5 million.

 

n      Still reigning in first place in its seventh round in Germany and in Austria is Intouchables, the French comedy sensation. Germany tally came to $4.8 million at 776 sites. Cume from both territories totals more than $50 million ($50.4 million).

 

n      In South Korea, C.J. Entertainment’s releasing of Howling, a crime drama from director Yoo Ha,, opened in the top spot, collecting $3.5 million from 549 screens.

 

Other international cumes: Warner’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, $325 million (after a $3 million weekend at 2,350 sites in 53 markets); Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, $198.5 million; Focus Features’ Beginners, $8.8 million; Universal’s Big Miracle, $2.1 million; DreamWorks Animation/Paramount’s Puss In Boots, $379.5 million; Sony/Paramount’s The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, $296 million; and Universal’s Contraband, $9.7 million.

 

Also, Paramount’s The Devil Inside, $9.8 million; The Weinstein Co.’s My Week With Marilyn, $9 million; Focus Features’ Jane Eyre, $21.4 million; Universal’s Tower Heist, $71.8 million; Paramount’s Young Adult, $2.6 million; Focus Features’ One Day, $43.5 million; Universal’s Johnny English Reborn, $157.9 million; Focus Features’ The Conspirator, $4.2 million; Sony’s Moneyball, $33.8 million; and Universal’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, $7.1 million in Australia and New Zealand only.