Nielsen EDI has awarded arecord 32 films the International Gold Reel Award for surpassing $100m innon-US box-office revenue during the past year.

Making the awards at CineExpo in Amsterdam, Nick King, international president of Nielsen Entertainment,said the numbers reflected the growth of the international market.

"We are seeing proof thatfilms can have success even if they don't have an impact in the US."

Titles as diverse asromantic comedies Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason and Shall WeDance', musical The Phantom Of The Opera, epic historical dramas Alexanderand King Arthur and family title Garfield all cracked the $100mbarrier internationally, despite failing to do so in the US.

The biggest internationalterritory, Japan, helped fuel much of the success for Phantom, ShallWe Dance' and Steven Spielberg's The Terminal, while the UK providedthe majority of Bridget Jones' takings.

King also pointed to thefact that five of the six Fox films honoured this year took moreinternationally than in the domestic US market. This year's Fox title KingdomOf Heaven, one of the honourees, has taken took over 75% of its $200m-pusworldwide gross internationally, having failed to reach even $50m domestically- a virtual mirror image of last summer's King Arthur (from BVI) whichwas also among the titles awarded.

A further sign of change wasthat the awards recognised a Japanese distributor for the first time. Tohopicked up a Gold Reel Award for Howl's Moving Castle, although thecompany's 2001 Hayao Miyazaki title Spirited Away would also havequalified having grossed over $200m in Japan alone.

Some winners were genuinelyglobal phenomena. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith, hastaken $724m worldwide making it the 19th most successful film in global history.It's also 19th in the all-time international list, although release in Japan islikely to provide a further boost.

Animated films like TheIncredibles and Robots also enjoyed global success.

Less expected were crossoversuccesses like Sony's Hitch, of which international market contributed$187m, slightly more than the $179m domestic haul.

Indeed, Hitch starWill Smith is proving to be one of the stars of the new era of global cinemawith I, Robot also up for honours.

But for a number of today'swinners, the international success came despite US failure. Troy, Alexanderand The Terminal were all saved by international performances.

There is also a growingcategory of films for which US box office is almost an irrelevance - Howl'sMoving Castle has picked up a credible $25m in the US, but took $200m athome.

Nielsen EDI InternationalGold Reel Award recipients 2005

20th CENTURY FOX
The Day After Tomorrow
Garfield
I, Robot
Star War: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith
Kingdom Of Heaven
Robots

BUENA VISTA INTERNATIONAL
The Incredibles
King Arthur
National Treasure
The Village

THE FELLOWSHIP ADVENTUREGROUP
Fahrenheit 9/11

INITIAL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
The Aviator

INTERMEDIA
Alexander

LAKESHORE ENTERTAINMENT
Million Dollar Baby

MIRAMAX
Shall We Dance'

SONY
Spider-Man 2
Hitch

TOHO
Howl's Moving Castle

UIP
The Bourne Supremacy
Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason
Collateral
Meet The Fockers
The Phantom Of The Opera
Shark Tale
Shrek 2
Van Helsing
The Terminal

WARNER BROS
Constantine
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
Ocean's Twelve
The Polar Express
Troy