Buena Vista International (BVI) passed $1bn in internationaltickets sales at the weekend, the ninth consecutive time it has achieved thefeat - a record for any studio international arm.

Fuelled by the success of Bruce Almighty, Pirates Of TheCaribbean, Jungle Book 2and Finding Nemo, BVIreached the milestone in record time.

The chief driver has been Bruce Almighty, which is BVI's top grossing film of theyear to date and currently has an international running total of $177.4m.

The Spyglass Entertainment film looks set to become the mostpopular Jim Carrey title ever to be released outside of the US.

BVI's second highest grosser is the action-adventure Pirates OfThe Caribbean, which wasthe top international performer last weekend and has amassed $148.5m to date.

The smash hit Disney/Pixar animation Finding Nemo is well on course to pass $100m. It isalready the top animated film of all time in 10 markets and will build on its$70.6m running total with a slew of openings in Europe and Japan towards theend of the year.

Earlier in the year BVI released Jungle Book 2, which enjoyed a strong spring sessionand went on to gross $86.9m.

"We owe this year'ssuccess to a combination of a sensational mix of product, which includedin-house produced live-action and animated titles, as well as high profileacquired product, coupled with the marketing and distribution expertise ofBVI's entire organisation," BVI president Mark Zoradi said in a statement.

BVI willroll-out the US hits Seabiscuit and Freaky Friday later in the year.