Julia wins o'seas
'Hill' breaks $200 mil; 'Bride' bows big
"Hill," which had excellent openings in Greece, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, has now delivered a worldwide cume of $316 million.
With the pic set to open in Italy Oct. 22, elated execs expect "Hill" to take more than $350 million globally by the end of November, making it the highest-grossing British film ever -- not to mention the fourth-biggest film of the year, after "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace," "The Matrix" and "The Mummy."
BVI says "Bride" is opening well enough to give "Hill" a good run for its money, especially with the pic's excellent results across German-speaking Europe last week. With a top-ranking preem in Teutonic Switzerland, "Bride" accounted for more than 70% of the Swiss national B.O. in the last weekend of September while doing "massive" first-day trading in its German and Austrian bows last week (overseas cume: $28 million).
In Germany, local release "Werner-Volles Rooaeaeae!" was still No. 1 in its second week despite a 34% dropoff. The force also dwindled 25% for "Phantom Menace," No. 2 there, though its international cume rose to $387.6 million after another top-ranking week in Italy.
Newcomers knocked
With Kinowelt's quiet achievers "Cruel Intentions" and "Message in a Bottle" in third and fourth place, respectively, after five solid weeks, German exhibs' only lament was the failure of any newcomers to ignite.
Trading in France was also down, with new pics under-performing, including "A Midsummer Night's Dream" bowing out of the top 10, plus a soft opening day for UIP's "Analyze This" (foreign cume: $43 million).
Battered 'Eyes'
French top-ranker "Eyes Wide Shut" (foreign cume: $63.22 million) dropped 36% as word-of-mouth began to hit, although in Spain the Stanley Kubrick-helmed pic took a healthy $3.4 million off 248 in its first 10 days. Described by one distrib as "very tame" and "pretty sanitized stuff," the pic's long-term legs look doubtful in ultra-liberal Spain, where the psychosexual thriller is considered about as scandalous as a vicar's tea party.
Bowing solidly at third, "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (foreign cume: $78.27 million) was also launched to Spanish auds in style with a powerful marketing campaign, including a high-profile garage party held during the San Sebastian Film Fest.
Closing off a disappointing month, business was slow again in the U.K., where despite good weekend figures, auds dropped significantly for "The Haunting" (foreign cume: $12.34 million), as word-of-mouth affected the meager six-day total of $3.1 million from 374 sites.
The best-performing Disney animation pic Down Under in years boasting a three-week $4.6 million local cume, "Tarzan" (foreign cume: $59.9 million) was just one of many titles that benefited from this week's Oz school spring holiday B.O. bonanza.
Up $2.6 million, market king "Big Daddy" was down only 3% for a two-week Oz cume of $5.34 million, followed closely by "American Pie" on $5.29 million.
