'Horton' hears healthy returns overseas

Film the only pic to hit eight figures during frame

By DAVE MCNARY

With tentpole season nearing, Hollywood's been warming up by putting its muscle overseas behind family-oriented pics that can travel to multiple markets.

Fox's "Horton Hears a Who!" has underlined that strategy in recent frames, racking up back-to-back wins in the international arena during the final March weekend and the first April sesh. Despite Horton being mostly an unknown entity outside the United States -- like the rest of the Dr. Seuss characters -- the CGI toon's headed well past the $100 million mark.

"Horton" was the only pic to hit eight figures during a mild April 4-6 frame.

And only seven other films -- French spoof "Disco," Chinese epic "Three Kingdoms," French megahit "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis," fantasy adventure "The Spiderwick Chronicles," caveman actioner "10,000 BC" and dance sequel "Step Up 2 the Streets" -- went past the $5 million mark during the frame.

"Horton" turned in a decent $3.3 million French launch and showed respectable traction in holdover markets. The toon has topped studio expectations with a $90 million foreign cume and several key markets such as Italy, South Korea and Japan yet to open.

"Horton" has totaled $221 million worldwide so far, underscoring the ongoing strength of high-profile well-promoted CGI animated fare. The last entry from Blue Sky Studios, "Ice Age: the Meltdown" grossed well over $400 million from international markets, as did last year's "Shrek the Third" and "Ratatouille."

The last major animated entry, "Bee Movie," totaled $286 million worldwide, including $160 million overseas.

Local films took the next three slots, led by Fabien Onteniente's much-hyped laffer "Disco" with $9.3 million in a "Saturday Night Fever" spoof for Studio Canal. Onteniente was re-united with French comic Franck Dubosc for the first time since the 2006 hit "Camping."

"Three Kingdoms -- Resurrection of the Dragon" followed with $8.1 million on less than 900 screens in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan with a beefy per-location average of $9,026. The star cast, including Maggie Q, Andy Lau and Sammo Hung, helped propel the pic to a strong start throughout the region.

Pathe's "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" continued to amaze, with $8 million at less than 1,000 sites in France, Belgium and Switzerland. Dany Boon's comedy about the French-Belgian border region has become a phenomenon over the past six weeks, with a $180 million cume from only three markets.

"Ch'tis" has now totaled 17.5 million viewers in Gaul -- smashing the previous record for a French-made pic, set by helmer Gerard Oury's 1966 laffer "La Grande Vadrouille." Only "Titanic" has ever sold more tickets in Gaul, at nearly 20.8 million.

Par's "Spiderwick Chronicles" conjured up $7.15 million at 3,477 to lift its foreign cume to $59 million -- or $11 million short of the domestic total. The fantasy's worldwide total has hit nearly $129 million for a decent rather than spectacular performance.

Warner's "10,000 BC" hunted down another $5.9 million at 4,900 in 62 markets and raised its international total to $154 million -- 63% of the worldwide total. Although other titles such as "I Am Legend," "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," "Enchanted" and "The Golden Compass" have all topped the $200 million mark, "10,000 BC" is the top performer so far this year in terms of offshore coin among Hollywood's 2008 titles.

"Step Up 2 to the Streets," handled by Summit and Universal, kicked in a decent $5.2 million at 1,580 in 29 markets. The sequel has totaled $61 million overseas, $11 million better than the original and $4 million ahead of its domestic cume.

Fox's "Jumper," Hollywood's only other 2008 title to top $100 million overseas, came in a shade under $5 million to lift its foreign cume to $131.7 million. One other pic topped $4 million -- Sony's "Vantage Point" with a moderate $4.2 million at 2,225 for a foreign cume of $67.7 million, nearly matching the domestic take.

In Germany, the ninth frame of documentary "Earth" remained an impressive performer with $1 million to lift its Teuton cume to $29 million. Pic's already taken in another $40 million from other territories including France and Japan.

(David Hayhurst in France and Patrick Frater in Hong Kong contributed to this report.)