'Blood Diamond' carried Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar nod into its first foreign expansion, bringing in $11.6 million.
"Night at the Museum" extended its stay at the top of a fairly robust international box office for the fifth straight weekend, taking in $14.6 million at 2,500 playdates in four dozen markets.
The frame also saw "The Pursuit of Happyness," "Blood Diamond" and "Babel" generate solid results among films with notable Oscar nominations, while "Dreamgirls" turned in more modest returns.
"Pursuit" continued to see cheerful results in the wake of Will Smith's Oscar nod, with $12. 5 million at 2,000 in 15 markets, led by a Japanese launch in second with $3.1 million at 274 and its third Brit weekend with $2.4 million at 404, down 28%. "Pursuit" has hit $48 million overseas to pass $200 million worldwide and should stay near the top next frame with launches in Brazil, France, Mexico and Spain.
"Blood Diamond," in its first major foreign expansion after Leonardo DiCaprio's actor nod, took in $11.6 million at 2,450, led by second-place launches in the U.K., with $2.9 million at 371, and in Germany, with $1.5 million at 503. "Diamond" also opened with $1.5 million at 280 in Italy and led in launches in Austria, Israel, Norway and Switzerland.
With seven Oscar noms,
"Babel" brought in a respectable $5.4 million at 1,089, led by its fifth Spanish frame with $1.2 million at 213, to push its territorial total to $9.4 million. Paramount Pictures Intl. relaunched "Babel" in Mexico with $245,000 at 162, lifting that cume to $6.7 million; total foreign take is nearly $55 million.
Paramount Pictures Intl.'s expansion of
"Dreamgirls" following its eight Oscar noms turned in moderate results with $2 million at 595, mostly via a trio of midsized launches -- $575,0000 at 170 in Spain, $362,000 at 143 in Italy and $212,000 at 115 in Mexico.
"The Departed," with five Oscar noms, saw decent returns in its second Japanese frame with $1.5 million at 361, down 36%, plus another $1.3 million in 32 other territories. Foreign cume has hit $138.7 million; worldwide total is $263 million.
"The Last King of Scotland" declined 35% in its third U.K. frame to $1 million at 230, pushing the Brit cume to $6 million amid widespread support for Forest Whitaker's Oscar nod.
In its eighth Japanese frame, Clint Eastwood's
"Letters From Iwo Jima" slid 24% to $686,000 at 312, pushing that cume to $37.6 million in Japan, the only foreign market to open so far for the best pic nominee.
BVI saw decent returns for the first foreign market for
"Venus" in the U.K. with $675,000 at 195 as it took advantage of Peter O'Toole's Oscar nom for actor.
Overall biz was solid for a midwinter frame, with four films above $10 million and "Night at the Museum" nearly matching the $15 million grossed by "Munich" in the same weekend of 2006. "Night" now has posted the longest winning streak at the foreign box office since "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" ended the summer with nine consecutive weekend victories.
"Museum" has cumed $193.7 million in foreign grosses and $410 million worldwide. It dominated in its Spanish launch with $5.6 million at 483 and opened impressively in the Philippines with $798,000 at 96. Holdover Brit biz stayed sensational in the fifth frame with $2.4 million at 453, down just 15% for a $39.4 million cume.
"Rocky Balboa" continued to punch in solid foreign results for Fox with $10.2 million at 2,000 in 11 markets, led by first-place finishes in its French launch of $4.1 million at 492 and its second Brit frame with $3.6 million at 405, off 50%. The sixth "Rocky" has cumed $38.2 million overseas and $106 million worldwide.
Second frame of Italian comedy
"Manual of Love 2" conquered a crowded weekend on its home turf with $6.5 million on 720, down 20% for a boffo $19 million cume as it easily topped "Pursuit of Happyness," "Step Up" and "Blood Diamond."
BVI's
"Deja Vu" materialized with $5.1 million at 2,724 in three dozen territories to lift the foreign cume to $97.3 million -- surpassing "Inside Man" to set a high for a Denzel Washington pic. Best perf came from the Australian soph sesh with $1.4 million at 240, down 26%.
Warner's
"Happy Feet" kept kicking in coin with $3.7 million at 3,140. Foreign "Feet" cume has hit $163 million and worldwide has reached $355 million.
Mel Gibson's Mayan epic
"Apocalypto" launched impressively in Mexico for Fox with a first-place $2.7 million at 465. It also led in openings in Taiwan, with $336,000 at 56, and in Brazil, with $207,000 at 48, pushing the foreign cume past $40 million.
Sony's
"Casino Royale" continued to cash in with $3.2 million at 2,015 in 48 markets, lifting the international cume to $405.1 million and the worldwide to $570 million -- 35th highest of all time. It's aiming at still more international coin this week with a Tuesday opening in China at 470 -- the first time that market's ever seen a James Bond pic in theaters.
Fox's day-and-date release of
"Epic Movie" led in Australia with $2 million at 206, about the same as the "Scary Movie" franchise. And Universal Pictures Intl.'s day-and-date opening of
"Smokin' Aces" led in Russia with $1.7 million at 326, topping launches by "Rocky Balboa," "Blood and Chocolate" and Yegor Konchalovsky's "Konservy."
Universal's sturdy romancer
"The Holiday" picked up another $2.3 million at 1,952 in 44 markets, goosing its foreign cume to $114 million and the worldwide total to $177 million. Summit reported
"Miss Potter" took in $3.3 million at 610, including a $1.4 million fourth-place Oz launch.
Other notable pics included
"Eragon" with $2 million at 1,500 in 35 markets;
"The Prestige" with $1.9 million at 1,150 in 39 markets;
"Flushed Away" with $1.6 million at 2,226 in 57 territories; and
"Charlotte's Web" with $1.2 million at 1,506 in 29 markets. "Eragon" has cumed $164.3 million overseas -- nearly 70% of its worldwide gross of $237 million.
Fox reported a smallish South Korean launch for
"Borat" with $50,000 at just 20 theaters, lifting laffer's foreign gross to $118.9 million and worldwide to $246 million.
(Nick Vivarelli in Italy contributed to this report.)
Contact Dave McNary at
dave.mcnary@variety.com