'Museum' tops international pics

Comedy earns $47.3 mil across 26 markets

By DAVE MCNARY

"Night at the Museum" spent the last weekend of 2006 dominating the international box office with $47.3 million at 4,722 playdates in 26 markets.

The Ben Stiller comedy's solid foreign performance capped a year that saw offshore biz rebound smartly from a downbeat 2005 as the five major distribs posted an 8% hike to $8.5 billion.

For the first time, a trio of Hollywood studios saw their annual worldwide total -- combined foreign and domestic -- surpass $3 billion.

"Museum" closed out 2006 with a rush thanks to solid overseas openings in the U.K., with $14.2 million at 486 since Boxing Day; Mexico, $7.3 million at 927; Germany, $5.9 million at 852; and Australia, $4.9 million at 239. Its South Korean soph sesh held nicely, dipping just 6% to $3.7 million at 368.

"Museum," which hasn't opened yet in France, Italy, Japan or Spain, has cumed $58 million internationally and $184 million worldwide. It took in more than the combined grosses of its two closest rivals -- Fox's "Eragon," which won the previous two weekends, and Warner Bros.' "Happy Feet."

With most Monday numbers unavailable due to New Year's Day, "Happy Feet" had a narrow lead over "Eragon" with $20.2 million at 6,100 in 58 markets, led by Australia with $8.7 million at 403 since Boxing Day, far ahead of "Museum" and 24% better than the launch of "Ice Age: The Meltdown." Penguin pic's New Zealand launch led with $870,000 at 87, and its fourth U.K. frame held nicely with $3.5 million at 490, off only 12% for a $26.9 million Brit cume.

"Happy Feet" has cumed $113.8 million overseas, lifting the worldwide total past $291 million.

"Eragon" flew into third with $20 million at 6,957, with a decent Brazilian launch of $1.5 million at 244. Overseas cume has hit $105 million; worldwide take is about $164 million.

With "Museum" and "Eragon," Fox ended the year with a flourish, leading Hollywood studios in international grosses with $1.98 billion, led by the "Ice Age" sequel, "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "The Devil Wears Prada."

Fox narrowly won the worldwide title with $3.36 billion, followed by Sony with $3.33 billion and BVI with $3.28 billion .

Fox's 2006 figure repped the third highest worldwide total ever, trailing only Warner's 2004 record of $3.41 billion and BVI's 2003 mark of $3.4 billion. Warner dominated in 2005 with $3.27 billion.

More than a third of Sony's $3.33 billion total for 2006 came via two tentpoles: "The Da Vinci Code," with $757 million worldwide, and "Casino Royale." Both took in 70% of their worldwide totals outside the U.S.

"These two films show that studios can serve themselves well with films that have stars and locations with strong international flavor," said Sony Pictures Releasing Intl. prexy Mark Zucker. "And since people in international markets don't go to the movies as often as in the United States, it's the tentpole films that attract them."

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" led BVI's 2006 results with $1.07 billion worldwide, followed by "Cars" with $462 million and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" with $320 million (2005 worldwide grosses for "Narnia" totaled $418 million). Those results validated the Mouse House's strategy to reduce its slate size and emphasize Disney-branded pics, according to Mark Zoradi, prexy of the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group.

"What we've done is expand in the consumer's mind what a Disney movie is -- that it's not just a kids' movie -- with a focus on franchisable properties," Zoradi added, noting that the Mouse has sequels to "Pirates" and "National Treasure" plus two animated pics ("Meet the Robinsons" and Pixar's "Ratatouille") lined up for this year.

The last weekend of 2006 also saw the final report from UIP before it split into separate foreign distribution operations for Paramount and Universal as of New Year's Day. Romantic comedy "The Holiday" -- now handled by the new Universal Pictures Intl. -- continued to connect with $16 million at 3,400 in 40 territories, plus another $3 million on Monday, to lift the international total to $73 million and the worldwide to $125 million.

Best "Holiday" perfs came from launches in Australia, with $3.5 million at 219, and France, with $2.3 million at 414, as well as its third German frame with $2 million at 524 and its fourth Brit sesh with $1.9 million at 426.

"Casino Royale" also cashed in with $16 million at 5,300 in 61 markets, bumping up its seventh U.K. weekend by 40% to $2.8 million at 508 and lifting Brit cume to $95 million. Foreign total has hit $338 million and worldwide gross should today cross the $500 million mark -- the 45th pic to do so.

BVI saw decent biz for "Deja Vu" with $9.5 million at 3,32 in 27 markets, led by Germany, where it debuted with $3.3 million at 400; Italy, with a 90% hike to $1.4 million at 299 in its third weekend; and the U.K., down 5% in the third frame to $1 million at 367. "Deja Vu" has $50 million overseas and $114 million worldwide.

Paramount Pictures Intl.'s first report included "Flushed Away," with $5.3 million to swell its foreign cume to $73.5 million; "Charlotte's Web," with $1.7 million at 1,200 locations in 10 markets for an offshore total of $9 million; and "Babel," with a first-place launch in Spain with $1.2 million at 182 and a ninth-place finish in Australia with $469,917 at only 40 sites, lifting Oz cume since Boxing Day to nearly $1 million. Four-week Mexican total on "Babel" has hit $6.4 million.

Warner reported the fourth Japanese frame for Clint Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima" declined 44% to $1.4 million at 322, lifting that market's cume to $22 million. The studio is launching "Letters" in other foreign markets in late February in order to finish the international run for Eastwood's companion pic, "Flags of Our Fathers," which has cumed $24 million internationally. "Flags" opens in Spain on Thursday.

Warner's "The Departed" added $3 million at 1,900 in 40 markets, including a launch in Belgium with $718,000 at 74, to finish the year with $116.4 million overseas -- $4 million short of the domestic total. "The Prestige" took in $1.5 million at 420 in 15 markets, lifting overseas cume to $30.5 million and worldwide to $83 million.