Meantime, a handful of starry specialty titles, such as "Factory Girl" and "Becoming Jane" found themselves being shut out by popcorn pics, including "Premonition" and "Music and Lyrics."

But local productionss also continued to shine in the top spots where "300" hasn't yet hit.

Firmly at No. 1, "300" is proving to be a worldwide phenomenon, scoring $15.9 million from 13 markets.

Pic was tops in every territory it set its sights upon, including South Korea, Turkey, Hong Kong, India and, appropriately, Greece.

Cume on the f/x-heavy pic has hit $25.2 million. And biz should stay strong as it storms into France, Spain, Italy, Mexico and the U.K. next.

Beyond "300," not much new product from Hollywood was circulating overseas.

Warners' "Music and Lyrics" finished at No. 2 overall abroad by staying solid as a holdover, but getting beat in many markets by local product. Pic took in $9.6 million to bring its cume to $57.2 million abroad.

"Norbit," "Ghost Rider" and "Night at the Museum" rounded out the top five.

In the U.K., Sony's Sandra Bullock starrer "Premonition" was tops with a surprising $2 million at 357.

Pic had finished at No. 3 in its U.S. bow, getting blown away by holdovers "300" and "Wild Hogs." But in Blighty, the pic, produced by Sony's TriStar banner, managed to connect for distrib Entertainment.

While Bullock reigned in "Premonition," thesp Sienna Miller had to settle for scraps in her homeland as "Factory Girl" wasn't able to get turnstiles spinning.

Pic, which had a solid limited run in the U.S. but fizzled in its expansion, bowed at No. 11 on the U.K. charts, reeling in just $307,058 off 120.

Yet another pic that seemingly should've taken hold in the U.K. was "Becoming Jane."

Though the Jane Austen biopic managed to hold well, dipping 11% in its soph sesh and taking in $1.1 million, Blighty bookers weren't encouraged as the film had opened so poorly.

In Spain, U.S. pics helped push up B.O.

Despite swell sunshine, two March 16 U.S. bows -- "Hannibal Rising" and "Norbit" -- surpassed exhibitors' expectations.

"Hannibal" made $1.7 million off 325, averaging $5,270 per print. And "Norbit" grossed an upbeat $1.2 million off 248 for a $4,992 per-copy average.

"One explanation for both pics' relatively strong performances is that there just wasn't much else out there," one exhibitor says.

Spanish industry is marking time before "300" bows. To date, B.O. in Spain is some 10% down on last year; admissions are off 13%-14%. "300" could help an upturn.

In Germany, also with no "300," B.O. was virtually unchanged from the previous weekend, with revenues up by just under 1% despite a strong preem by "Neues vom Wixxer," Constantin's sequel to the 2004 hit comedy "Der Wixxer." The spoof of German mystery thrillers from the 1960s knocked "Music and Lyrics" from first place. That marked the second local pic to reach No. 1 in Germany this year after BVI's teen comedy "The Wild Soccer Bunch 4."

Warner's "Lyrics" and Universal's "Norbit" followed in second and third, still exhibiting strength with respective drops of 33% and 23%. Exhibs stressed that "moviegoers were definitely in the mood for light-hearted romantic comedies and raunchy humor," predicting that "Lyrics" and "Norbit" would continue to do socko biz in Germany.

Fox's "The Last King of Scotland" opened strongly there as well, though, on only 86 copies. Boosted by its best actor win, pic opened at No. 5 with a $453,120 cume, achieving a robust $5,270 per screen average.

"Forest Whitaker is a recognized actor here and the film has attracted great attention," says one booker, adding that stellar reviews, the film's subject matter and Whitaker's Oscar have piqued interest among German moviegoers.

"300" opens in Germany April 5.

Over in Italy, local pics continued to be on a roll as hit homegrown teen romancer "Ho voglia di te" (I Want You) held on to the top spot while four other local titles also made the top ten.

Reflecting the power of hometown helmers, Sony's "Ghost Rider" rode into Italy in second place, grossing $1.76 million on 302, barely besting the outing of local laffer "Il 7 e l'8" by comic duo Ficarra and Picone which pulled $1.75 million off 300 via Medusa.

And in its first European release, U.K. helmer Gabriel Range's "Death of a President" opened to moribund biz in Italy.

In France, "Music and Lyrics" finished third behind local sensation "La Vie en rose" at No. 2.

Chinese import "Curse of the Golden Flower," bloomed to No. 1 with the Gallic crowd.

Ed Meza, David Hayhurst, John Hopewell, Archie Thomas and Nick Vivarelli contributed to this report.