'Island' B.O. afloat o'seas
D'Works pic cume at $63 mil
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"The Island," which stumbled Stateside with $34.1 million in four weeks, has cumed a respectable $63 million offshore for Warner Bros. Top performances came from the U.K. with a solid launch of $2.6 million at 413 playdates to finish second behind "Charlie," and Mexico with $1.91 million debut at 500 sites for a 34% share of the latter market.
"The Island" also opened decently in Russia with $1.2 million at 241 engagements, in Holland with $434,500 at 86 and in Argentina with $198,800 at 50. Best holdover performance came from Germany with a 40% soph-sesh drop to $1.66 million while Spain saw second-frame results plunge 55% to $1.13 million.
"The Island" has racked up nearly half its offshore gross in two Asian markets: South Korea with a remarkable $19 million and Japan with $9.4 million. Korean fourth-frame results fell 54% to $1 million amid competish from three local titles and the launch of "Fantastic Four" while Japanese takings declined just 1.5%, thanks to the Obon holiday, from the third weekend with $793,700.
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" continued to cook up tasty international results for Warners with $13.6 million at more than 3,500 playdates in 30 markets, with its top performance by far coming from the U.K., where third-frame takings declined 36% to $4.96 million. Foreign cume has hit $91 million, with exactly half of that coming from the U.K. with $45.5 million, or 20% above "The Incredibles"; worldwide total for Tim Burton's fantasy comedy is near $275 million.
"Charlie" opened moderately in Spain with $1.48 million at 308 sites and in Germany with $1.45 million at 484. It overcame typhoon conditions in Hong Kong to lead the market with $643,600 from 41 prints, topping openings of Thai entry "Tom Yum Goong" and "Land of the Dead"; in Turkey, "Charlie" launched in first with $211,100 at 79, representing a dominant 46% share.
Tapping into the same family audience as "Charlie," "Madagascar" remained reliable with $8.2 million, led by a $2.7 million launch in Japan. Holdover biz for the CGI toon stayed significant in Germany, declining 48% to $1.7 million, and in the U.K. with $1.2 million for a 21% drop, lifting the respective cumes to $36.8 million and $35.7 million after five weeks in each market.
"Madagascar" has totaled $252 million in foreign markets, pushing the worldwide cume past $441 million.
Overall offshore biz appeared restrained as only three pics topped $6 million, and that trio followed the ongoing trend of lagging the same frame last year. "The Island," "Charlie" and "Madagascar" combined for $35.7 million -- $4 million short of the 2004 session, when "I Robot" led with $18.8 million, followed by "King Arthur" with $12.2 million and "Spider-Man 2" with $9.2 million.
BVI's "Herbie: Fully Loaded" showed moderate traction overseas with $5.8 million, led by a French soph sesh that declined 40% to $1.4 million at 575 playdates and a second Blighty frame with $1.2 million at 442, falling just 12%. "Herbie" has cumed $42 million offshore and should drive past the $63.8 million Stateside take by the end of its foreign run.
BVI's "Sin City" debuted decently in Germany with $2.5 million at 350 engagements, eclipsing launches of both "Kill Bill" pics, and in Spain with $1.7 million at 305, matching the "Hellboy" opening. "Sin" also opened in first in Austria with $505,000 at 70 and in second in New Zealand with $200,000 at 40.
The year's top offshore performers -- UIP's "War of the Worlds" and Fox's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" -- continued to contribute at the end of their runs. "War" declined 34% to $4.1 million with the best perf coming from Japan, where the Obon holiday lifted the seventh weekend figure 33% to $1.3 million and the Japanese cume to $48.6 million.
"War of the Worlds" has topped $332 million offshore and $560 million worldwide.
"Revenge of the Sith" also benefited from the Japanese holiday as sixth weekend grosses rose 15% to $2.8 million at 298 playdates, edging "Madagascar" to mark the sixth consecutive win in that market. "Sith" has cumed $444 million overseas; worldwide total has hit $822.5 million.
Fox's "Fantastic Four" won in its South Korean launch with $2.2 million at 248 playdates, pushing the studio's foreign cume to $128 million and worldwide takings to $276 million.
"Land of the Dead" showed some life with a $1 million opening in France for Wild Bunch and another $1.1 million at 655 sites in 19 UIP markets.
UIP's "Skeleton Key," which launched offshore ahead of its domestic opening, scared up modest returns with $1.8 million at 874 sites in eight markets, lifting foreign cume to $9.5 million. Top perf came from its French soph sesh with $500,000 at 246 for a 50% decline, followed by a Taiwanese launch of $400,000 and a U.K. third frame of $330,000 at 236, sliding 57%.
Sony's "Bewitched" conjured up lukewarm biz with $1.8 million at 588 screens in eight markets with most of that coming from its Mexican launch of $1.2 million at 350 sites and Singapore with $200,000 at 27 to lead the latter market.
Fox's "Robots" rang up $915,000 at 417 in its third Japanese frame for a territorial total of $5.6 million and a $124.5 million foreign cume. Fox's "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," near the end of its run, shot up $635,000 at 78 screens in its second Belgian frame to lift the distrib's offshore total to $143 million.
Fox's baseball-themed "Fever Pitch," retitled "Perfect Catch" for U.K. audiences, generated a quiet $455,000 at 254 U.K. playdates in its first foreign launch outside the Caribbean markets. "Fever Pitch" was based on Nick Hornby's memoir about his devotion to the Arsenal soccer club, leading to a 1997 Brit film of the same name.
