Tuesday, February 10, 2009

"Button" sews up international box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - With 13 Oscar nominations and three BAFTA wins, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" stepped out as the No. 1 film on the international circuit during the weekend, garnering an estimated $31 million from 5,126 screens in 47 markets.

The David Fincher-directed film hit its stride overseas with No. 1 debuts in Spain and Paris and a No. 2 bow in Japan.

Notable was "Button''s" No. 1 opening in the all-important U.K. territory, where the Brad Pitt-starring Warner Bros. release earned $3.2 million in three days from 476 spots.

"Button" is the best overseas grosser of this season's best-film Oscar prospects, collecting $72.5 million so far internationally. That's $23.3 million more than the combined overseas takes of "Revolutionary Road," "Frost/Nixon" and "Milk." It also is 2009's second-biggest No. 1 grosser, following "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," which tallied $31.6 million in the year's first weekend.

The weekend's No. 1 domestic title, New Line/Warners' "He's Just Not That Into You," opened at No. 2 in the U.K., grossing $2.7 million from 376 screens.

Pathe's Oscar favorite and multiple BAFTA winner "Slumdog Millionaire" has extracted $24.5 million so far from the U.K. over three weekends. The Danny Boyle title grabbed the No. 3 weekend market spot with $2.4 million from 442 situations. In India, "Slumdog," through 20th Century Fox, has rolled up a market total of $5 million in three frames.

At No. 2 overall was Fox's release of United Artists' "Valkyrie," the World War II drama starring Tom Cruise that had been No. 1 overseas during the previous two frames. The latest weekend produced $11.3 million, pushing the film's overseas gross to $56.7 million.

Disney Animation's "Bolt," up for an animated film Oscar, finished at No. 3 with $9.6 million from 3,150 screens in 31 markets for a total to date of $111 million.

DreamWorks/Paramount's "Revolutionary Road" tallied $6.3 million from 2,699 screens in 47 markets, finishing at No. 4 for the weekend. The international gross for the Leonardo DiCaprio/Kate Winslet drama is $37 million.

At No. 5 was Fox's comedy "Bride Wars," showing durability on the international circuit with a $6.1 million weekend from 2,539 screens in 43 markets, good for a total to date of $32.1 million. Sony's "Seven Pounds" opened in six territories and grabbed $5.4 million overall during the weekend from 2,600 sites in 43 markets, pushing its overseas gross to $79.4 million.

"Mamma Mia!" continued to pile on the foreign grosses as the weekend brought $2.5 million from 336 Japan sites, pushing the market total past the 1 billion yen ($11.3 million) mark in 10 days. The Universal musical has logged an overseas total of $440.5 million, more than three times its domestic gross.

Another box-office stalwart concluding its international run in Japan is MGM/Sony's "Quantum of Solace," which tallied $1.3 million in its third weekend in the territory from 346 screens. Its overseas total is $401.6 million, $30.5 million shy of the overseas box-office record for a James Bond title, set by 2006's "Casino Royale." [Source from: Reuters/Hollywood Reporter]

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