'Love,' 'Life' thrive
Oscar-fueled twosome find more fans o'seas
The omens were bright for "The Rugrats Movie," which had a boisterous bow in the U.K. and Mexico last week and was launching over the April 2-4 weekend in Australia (after well-attended sneaks), Italy, France and Belgium. Pic, however, had pint-sized preems in Scandinavia, where the eponymous TV series has little profile.
While "Rush Hour" blitzed Germany and "Message in a Bottle" marked Kevin Costner's resurrection as a bankable star in Italy, Spain and Belgium, some exhibs were glum.
Raggedy 'Patch'
"Patch Adams" was off-color in its German debut, blamed by one booker on a campaign that appeared to target kids, and by another on Robin Williams' low scores in that market. "It's his way of talking, which likely gets lost in the dubbing," opines one programmer.
"Payback" entered the U.K. somewhat below the level expected of a Mel Gibson vehicle, attributed by one tradester to its heavy dose of violence -- a turn-off for women who usually flock to Gibson's films.
Brian Helgeland's vengeance saga did seize pole position in Brazil, however, and had similarly robust entries in Argentina (notching Warner Bros.' seventh-biggest bow ever there) and South Korea. "Payback's" payoff thus far is $32.2 million from 26 countries.
"Patch Adams" struggled in its Aussie debut while "Paperback Hero," a homegrown romantic comedy pairing Hugh Jackman and Claudia Karvan, also failed to find an audience.
"Patch Adams" earned $9.1 million in 15 markets and its cume ascended to $24.3 million. Universal/UIP's pic retained the top spot in Japan, registering $5.9 million in 11 days (abating 30%) and has fetched $2.6 million after 12 days in Italy (down 20%).
Oscar enhancements
"Shakespeare in Love's" cume climbed to $93.3 million after minting $16.4 million on 2,124 screens in 24 countries. Seven Academy Awards ensured terrific holds for John Madden's costumer in the U.K., Australia, Italy (tallying $12.4 million through its fifth frame), Spain ($6.1 million in 19 days, off by a negligible 1%) and Hong Kong ($686,000 after 12 days on 12 screens, improving 12%).
In its 16th month in Italy, "Life is Beautiful" is performing as if brand-new and its total there shot up to $43.5 million. That brought the offshore cume to $111.6 million. Italo exhibs were cheered by "Message in a Bottle" (retitled "The Words I Never Told You") and by local comedy "Hunger and Thirst's" soph session.
In its world preem, "Tea with Mussolini," Franco Zeffirelli's semi-autobiographical World War II tale of eccentric English and American expatriates in Tuscany garnered mostly positive reviews but only mild audience interest, while fellow rookie "Very Bad Things" was neither bad nor good.
