Thursday, August 19, 2010

Inception, Toy Story 3 lead foreign box office - Sci Fi

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Inception" led the foreign box office for a second weekend on Sunday after earning about $46.6 million from 58 markets.
A No. 1 Spain opening tallied $4.5 million, while a No. 2 Brazil debut provided $2 million.
After a month, director Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio has drawn a total foreign box office take of $250 million, with the U.K. ($39.4 million) and Japan ($23.7 million) throwing off a good chunk of the total action.
"Toy Story 3" followed with $29.4 million from 49 markets, pushing its foreign gross to $498.7 million. In Japan, the Pixar threequel etched its fifth consecutive No. 1 weekend with $5.4 million for a market total of $77.5 million.
Third-ranked "Salt" opened at No. 1 in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, and drew $16.9 million in 39 markets. The Angelina Jolie spy thriller has tallied $62.8 million since its foreign opening on July 21.
"Grown Ups," the new champ in Russia, followed with $12.7 million from 30 markets. Total gross for the Adam Sandler comedy is $33.5 million.
"Step Up 3D," the third installment of the urban dance franchise, opened at No. 5 with $12.3 million from 11 markets; it also bowed to an underwhelming $15.5 million in North America.
Other foreign totals include: "Shrek Forever After," $426.7 million; "The Twilight Sage: Eclipse," $372.8 million; "Knight and Day," $128 million; "The Karate Kid," $94.7 million; "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," $54.2 million; "The Last Airbender," $53 million; "Despicable Me," $43.5 million; and "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore," $11.1 million.
Foreign sales are booming so far this year. According to studio figures through the end of July, the six Hollywood majors -- 20th Century Fox, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal and Sony -- have tallied $7.9 billion, 32% ahead of last year's pace. Fox, bolstered by "Avatar," leads the pack through July with sales of $2.2 billion followed by Disney ($1.7 billion), Warner Bros. ($1.5 billion), Paramount ($1.3 billion), Universal ($726 million) and Sony ($494.5 million).
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