Buena Vista International (BVI) has become the third distributor this year to cross the $1bn barrier at the international box office, making it seven years in a row for the company. The battle charge was led by Pearl Harbor which took $251.5m in overseas territories, over $50m more than in the domestic market, and is the third biggest BVI live action title of all time after Armageddon and Pretty Woman.

Mark Zoradi, president of BVI and Buena Vista Home Entertainment, made the announcement yesterday, saying that 43 BVI releases had grossed over $1m and had accounted for this year's billion.

Second highest grosser of the year was M Night Shyamalan's thriller Unbreakable, which took $114.9m after Jan 1, bringing its international total to $154.5m.

Third was another holiday 2000 release, 102 Dalmatians which grossed $94.3m in 2001, bringing its total to $116.3m.

Other strong performers were The Emperor's New Groove ($80m), Atlantis: The Lost Empire ($54.6m to date) and Dinosaur which took $35.7m this year of its total $216.4m.

As the year winds down, BVI will begin the Asian and Latin American regional launch of Monsters Inc and conclude the European regional roll-out of The Princess Diaries.

Next year's slate includes the IMAX version of Beauty And The Beast, Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums, live action adventure The Count Of Monte Cristo, a new Peter Pan animated movie Return To Neverland, Kevin Costner suspense thriller Dragonfly, fantasy adventure Reign Of Fire, animated comedy Lilo And Stitch, Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action comedy Bad Company with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins and M Night Shyamalan's latest thriller Signs starring Mel Gibson.