The Last Samurairaised its international running total to an estimated $156.1m at the weekendfollowing a superb $38.7m haul from 31 territories.

The Warner BrosPictures International drama opened number one in all five of its new Europeanmarkets and scored several strong results in Latin America and Asia.

In a mightysequence of table-topping bows, it opened on $4.8m in France, $2.7m inAustralia, $1.9m in Mexico and $910,000 in Brazil.

Strong secondweekend holdovers included Italy, where The Last Samurai remained top on$4.9m for a $13.6m running total, and Spain, where it also stayed top and added$3.8m for $10.6m.

In its secondweekend in the UK it remained second behind The Lord Of The Rings: TheReturn Of The King, adding $3.8m for $11.2m, while Germany stayed top on$3.7m for $9.9m. All box office drops were in the 21%-19% range.

In its seventh week in Japan thedistributor claims The Last Samurai ranked first, adding $3.7m for astunning $83.7m cumulative score.