On the weekendthat The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King won all 11 of the Oscars for which ithad been nominated, Peter Jackson's trilogy finale leapfrogged 2001's HarryPotter And The Sorcerer's Stone to become the second biggest international picture of all time.

It added $11mfrom 3,148 screens in 60 territories to raise its international running totalto $663.1m, overtaking Potter's $658.2m but still far behind Titanic, which grossed $1.2bn following itsrelease in 1997.

The fantasy picture continued to perform well in Japan,where in its third weekend it grossed $6.5m from 738 screens for $45.1m higher by 48% than the comparable gross for trilogy predecessor The TwoTowers.

The worldwidegross for The Return Of The King now stands at $1.03bn incorporating $364.1m in domestic box officegrosses.

It has nowgrossed more than The Two Towers in 56 of the 60 territories where it is on release.

Highlights include an astonishing $104.1m in the UK,$86.1m in Germany, $48.2m in France, $28.3m in South Korea, $15.5m in Mexicoand $11.7m in Russia.

Scandinavia in particularhas yielded superb results with The Return Of The King grossing $23.2m in Sweden, $15.7m in Denmark and$12.1m in Norway.