Seizing the No. 1 box office spot on the foreign theatrical circuit for the first time since its Oct. 27 overseas opening, DreamWorks Animation’s Puss In Boots purred all the way to $47.1 million drawn from 6,749 locations in 40 markets.

 

Driving the offshore action were strong openings in 16 territories, with first-place debuts recorded in at least nine of the markets.  Offshore gross total for the 3D animation spinoff of Shrek stands at $143.7 million, according to distributor Paramount International.

 

In Germany,Puss In Boots took the top spot with $6.9 million picked up from 680 situations for a lusty per-location average of slightly more than $10,000.  The No. 1 Brazil take was $5.9 million from 434 venues while Australia kicked in $3 million from 507 locales.

 

The No. 1 U.K. tally was $3.08 million derived from 510 spots in what Paramount described as a “soft market.” A No. 3 second weekend for Puss In Boots in France generated $5.6 million from 671 sites for a market cume of $15.9 million. An Italy opening looms this week.

 

“Soft” is the word to describe the 36-market foreign opening of Warner Bros./New Line’s New Year’s Eve, director Garry Marshall’s romantic comedy chockablock with name performers including Sarah Jessica Parker and Ashton Kutcher. Debut round drew just $12.75 million from 2,800 screens. While it opened a weak No. 1 in the U.S., it finished in fourth place overseas.

 

The generally flabby international market in general is likely to toughen up this week thanks to Paramount’s overseas opening in 44 territories of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the latest installment in the high-octane action series starring Tom Cruise.

 

After three consecutive rounds at No. 1 in international box office, Summit International’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I finished No. 2 on the weekend, grossing $19.8 million from some 7,800 locations in 73 markets.  Overseas cume for the first half of the concluding chapter of the saga about a high-school girl and her vampire boyfriend comes to $374 million.

 

The weekend’s No. 3 is Sony’s Arthur Christmas, the 3D Aardman Animation about a resentful Santa, which collected $15.1 million from 7,603 locations in 63 markets, lifting its international cume to $58.6 million.  A No. 2 Russia bow provided $3.4 million from 780 situations.

 

No. 5 overall, and still reigning No. 1 in France in its sixth consecutive round, Gaumont’s comedy sensation Intouchables, costarring Francois Cluzet as a wealthy quadriplegic and Omar Sy as a caretaker with a shady past, drew $10.8 million from 910 screens in France, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland. The film’s cume stands at 123.4 million.

 

Warner Bros.’ release of Happy Feet Two, Village Roadshow’s family-oriented animation sequel about amiable penguins, drew $9.7 million from 6,725 sites in 47 markets. Overseas gross total to date stands at $48.9 million

 

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’s weekend tally was $7 million drawn from some 3,945 screens in 58 markets, elevating the cume for Steven Spielberg’s stop motion animation in 3D to $232.7 million. Sony and Paramount share offshore distribution of Tintin along with local distributors in various markets. Sony territories contributed $1.7 million to the weekend gross (cume $170.3 million) while Paramount kicked in $1.4 million (cume $52.7 million) and local distribs the rest.

 

Disney’s Real Steel, the Hugh Jackman action vehicle, raised its foreign gross total to $186.2 million over 10 stanzas thanks to a $6.6 million take in 52 territories. Sony’s Russian acquisition, Vysotsky: Thank God I’m Alive, a profile of singer-songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky, bagged $6.5 million from some 1,400 screens in its second Russia round, lifting the market cume to $23.3 million.

 

20^th Century Fox’s In Time, New Regency’s sci-fi thriller costarring Justin Timberlake andAmanda Seyfried, inches toward the $100-million foreign gross mark with a weekend take of $6.1 million from 1,850 sites in 34 territories. Cume currently stands at $92.2 million.  

 

Opening No. 3 in France was Wild Bunch’s release of Hollywoo, costarring Florence Forsti and Jamal Debbouze (who in posters for the film are pictured holding a Hollywood directional sign missing the D). The comedy laughed all the way to an estimated $5.5 million at 592 locations.

 

In Japan, Toei opened its bigscreen adaptation of the hit TV Ashai series, Kamen Ridert X Kamen, roughly translated as Masked Rider X.  The action vehicle drew  $4.9 million in its market bow at 301 locations.

 

Taking first place in its second Korea round was CJ Entertainment’s release of Spellbound, a local language romantic comedy with horror elements about a young woman pursued by ghosts who links up with a street magician. Weekend take was $3.9 million derived from some 530 locations.

 

Making its France debut in the No. 7 spot was director Roman Polanski’s comedy-drama Carnage costarring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly. Weekend take was $1.25 million from 280 situations. Over three rounds in Germany and in Austria, Carnage, about parents of two combative school kids, grossed a total of about $4 million.

 

Other international cumes:  Universal’s Tower Heist, $47 million; Disney’s The Muppets, $5.8 million; Sony’s Jack and Jill, $15 million; Universal’s Fuga de Cerebros 2, $5.1 million in Spain only; Sony’s Moneyball, $28 million; Universal’s Johnny English Reborn, $150.1 million; DreamWorks/Disney’s The Help, $32.6 million; Universal’s A Dangerous Method, $5.9 million; Morgan Creek/Universal’s The Thing, $8.5 million (in Universal territories only); Disney’s The Lion King 3D, $69.4 million; and Focus Features/Universal’s One Day, $42 million.

 

Also, Relativity Media/Universal’s Immortals, $105 million ($185 million worldwide); The Weinstein Co.’s My Week With Marilyn, $3.8 million in U.K. only; Focus Features/Universal’s Jane Eyre, $19.8 million; Universal’s The Debt, $14.5 million; Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 3, $98.7 million; Fox’s You Are The Apple Of My Eye, $24.5 million; Focus Features, The Conspirator, $3.45 million; The Weinstein Co.’s The Artist, $14 million; and Universal’s The Change-Up, $34.3 million.