MOVIES

Box Office Report: 'Prometheus' Opening Ahead of 'Snow White' in the U.K.

4:20 PM PDT 6/1/2012 by Pamela McClintock

The Fox tentpole is rolling out in 15 international markets a week ahead of its U.S. opening on June 8.

Ridley Scott's 3D sci-fi tentpole Prometheus is off to a strong start at the international box office, grossing $5.5 million from eight markets on Wednesday and Thursday.

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The Fox event pic opened in the U.K. on Friday, and early returns indicate that Prometheus is pacing 150 percent ahead of Universal's new entry Snow White and the Huntsman and Sony holdover Men in Black 3 combined, at least so far. Numbers won't be available until Saturday morning.

Prometheus has been tracking especially strong in the U.K., where the movie made its world premiere Thursday night.

Prometheus, headlining Noomi Repace and Michael Fassbender, opens June 8 in the U.S. It's debuting in a total of 15 international markets a week ahead of its domestic launch, including France, where it grossed $2.4 million on Wednesday and Thursday (the movie scored the second-biggest opening-day gross of 2012 behind The Avengers for a non-French title).

Opening in Russia on Thursday, Prometheus grossed $2.2 million, the third-highest Fox opening of all time behind the third Ice Age 3 and Avatar. It opened No. 1 in Russia, as well as in Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Switzerland.

In Chile, Prometheus debuted to $70,000 on Thursday, the biggest opening day for a Scott-directed title and bigger than The Hunger Games and MIB3.

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Snow White -- starring Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Liam Hemsworth -- opens this weekend in North America and is overperforming at the Friday box office for a projected weekend opening in the $48 million-to-$52 million range.

Snow White is also opening in 45 international territories; the U.K. is the only market where it goes up against Prometheus.