20th Century FoxInternational has become the first studio to cross $1bn in internationalgrosses in the increasingly fierce race for grosses outside the US. As oftoday, the studio's international distribution arm reported $1.09bn in boxoffice returns so far in 2005.

The films included in theachievement are Robots, theanimated movie which took $114m and has Japan yet to open on July 30; KingdomOf Heaven, Ridley Scott's epic whichhas taken $144m in Fox territories (excluding France and Italy where Fox solddistribution rights); Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith, the Lucasfilm sequel which has grossed $379.4m sofar with Japan still to open; and Mr And Mrs Smith which has grossed $108m in Fox territories to date.

"With such heavy competitionthis summer, it is an even sweeter victory to pass this milestone so quickly,"said Paul Hanneman, executive vice president of sales and strategic planningfor Fox International, in a statement. He said that the studio's grosses shouldonly escalate, with Fantastic Fourset to open throughout the world this weekend.