The studio reached the milestone on May 8; the 11th year it has accomplished the feat.

This was also the third year in a row that the company has become the first to reach $1bn overseas.

The key driver has been the animated hit Rio (pictured), which stands at $292m and is expected to cross $300m this week.

Black Swan has grossed $191m with Japan still to come on May 14. The psycho-thriller is predicted to cross $200m internationally and $300m worldwide.

Of the other titles that played a part, Gulliver’s Travels has amassed $156m of its $194m tally this calendar year and The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader has taken $115m this year out of $312.6m.

Love And Other Drugs stands at $70.6m and took $56m of that this year.

Fox International is the only distributor – be it international or North American – to cross $2bn four times (in 1998, 2006, 2009 and 2010) and to do so twice in a row.

“We couldn’t be more proud of the Fox International team for once again reaching this milestone first,” Fox International co-presidents Paul Hanneman and Tomas Jegeus said.

“Achieving $1B in box office this early and with an extremely varied slate is a testament to the hard work and incredible talent of our people”.

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