'Gladiator' slays slumping overseas receipts

Foreigners mad for 'Glad'; 'Sixth' 7th all-time abroad; 'Vatel' starts to smell

By DON GROVES

Socko biz by "Gladiator" in five territories brightened an otherwise blah week overseas as exhibs in most of Europe and parts of Asia griped about the combo of terrific weather and lousy product.

But the summer season was due for a high-octane boost during the May 17-21 frame as Ridley Scott's Roman epic blasted off in 19 countries, including Italy, Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Taiwan.

Following a similar release pattern to those of "The Mummy" and "Deep Impact," UIP has to maximize the window of opportunity with "Gladiator" before the arrival of "Mission: Impossible 2" and other such heavyweight offerings as "Dinosaur."

The Russell Crowe starrer annexed $8.3 million in six days on 413 arenas in the U.K., the distrib's fifth-highest preem in history excluding paid previews. Bookers rated that result even better than they'd expected and were confident of a strong soph session on the back of excellent weekday biz.

Maximus' saga conquered Singapore with $547,000 in six days on 33 and Malaysia at $201,000 on 44 (although UIP did not report any all-time rankings in either market). The action-adventure abated by just 26% after posting the third-highest debut ever in Australia and slipped by just 7% in Mexico. All told, the pic minted $14 million on 1,178 screens, propelling its cume to $21.4 million.

'Sixth' takes ninth

Spyglass reported "The Sixth Sense's" final worldwide gross as $661 million, which means it's the ninth-highest earner in history. The foreign take of $367.4 million stands as the seventh-biggest of all time.

Typifying last week's B.O. depression on the Continent, "Mission to Mars" took pole position despite a mediocre preem in Germany, where "Man on the Moon" ranked as Jim Carrey's worst-ever bow locally.

"Business is really, really lousy. There's nothing attracting people to the cinema; nice weather, sidewalk cafes and the lakes are keeping them out of theaters," said one Teutonic operator.

In flat trading in France, "Mars" landed in third spot (but that was a five-day figure as the distrib held the release until after its Cannes screening), behind "Erin Brockovich" in its third and rookie "The Whole Nine Yards."

Brian De Palma's pic checked into Taiwan at No. 1 in a very soft market and experienced a typically steep dive in Italy after a pleasing opening. The foreign cume is $18.6 million.

So-so costumer

After being launched in Cannes, "Vatel," the costumer toplining Gerard Depardieu, was met with tepid reviews and audience indifference in France.

"Romeo Must Die" had an unexciting entry in Japan but showed more heft in Australia, where word of mouth ensured a buoyant second lap for local coming-of-age tale "Looking for Alibrandi." "Bicentennial Man" stiffed in Japan, its last major market, leaving its cume of around $26 million well short of domestic's unimpressive $57.7 million.

Blighty exhibs were in a bullish mood with ticket sales through the end of April having improved by 17% over the same period last year. April alone surged by 30%.

But Spanish exhibs were glum, lamenting the distraction of the San Isidro Bull Fair and lowly debuts by "28 Days" (which didn't get out of rehab in Mexico, either), "Anywhere but Here" and locals "Just Run!," "The Winter of the Wood Nymphs" and "Ave Maria." Opined one Madrid programmer, "Unless things improve, national films' market share could be way down from last year's 14%."

Hits keep rollin'

"Erin Brockovich" harvested about $7.3 million from holdovers and OK bows in Indonesia and Yugoslavia, elevating the cume to $89 million. The evergreen "American Beauty" ascended to $197.7 million and "The Green Mile" hit $130 million, driven by Japan's phenom $47.8 million, where it still reigned in its eighth lap.

"The Beach" inched toward $100 million, standing at $99.5 million late last week, and should join the century club by May 22 -- only the sixth title to do so this year.