A powerful surge across German-speaking Europe helped The Ugly Truth claim top spot among overseas Hollywood releases as the romantic comedy grossed an estimated $12.1m through Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Leading the way was a $5.4m number one launch in Germany on $507 screens that played a major part in raising the running total to $70.8m.

The Ugly Truth is active on 2,385 screens in 54 markets and scored number one launches in Austria, Germany-speaking Switzerland and Taiwan as well as Hungary and Vietnam.

Austria generated $820,000 from 88, German-speaking Switzerland $620,000 from 52 and Taiwan $585,000 from 65. Elsewhere it grossed $555,000 from 73 in Holland for second place and $235,000 from 50 in the Philippines for third place despite the chaos brought by recent floods.

Hungary generated $200,000 from 28 screens and Vietnam produced $40,000 from 19. Among holdover highlights were Brazil on $760,000 from 161 for $3.5m, Russia on $395,000 from 84 for fifth place and $5.7m after three, Mexico on $200,000 from 216 for seventh on $3.8m after five, and France on $5.8m after six.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs continued its promising early run, adding $7.1m from 1,920 in 31 for $21.9m. The launch highlights were a number one launch in Brazil that drew $1.5m from 250 screens and a number one result in Colombia on $610,000 from 80.

The animated release took $320,000 from 21 in Israel, and opened second in Argentina and Singapore on $305,000 from 71 and $290,000 from 31, respectively. It opened top in Peru on $175,000 from 34. Cloudy added $1.9m in the UK from 611 in its third weekend for $7.9m and ranks fourth, and added $860,000 in Mexico from 369 for $5m and ranks third.

Sci-fi action District 9 took $4.9m through all distributors for $65.4m and opened top in Hong Kong on $500,000 from 33 and top in Belgium on $310,000 from 29. The film has amassed $13.4m in the UK after five, $6.9m in Australia after eight, $6.6m in Spain after four, $4.5m in Germany after four, and $1.9m in Italy after two weekends.

Thriller The Taking Of Pelham 123 stands at $75.7m following a further $3.3m from 2,050 screens in 41 markets and has reached $2.6m in Germany and $2.4m in Mexico, both after two weekends, and $7.9m in Japan after five.

  • Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International releases took more than $30m over the weekend, led by an $11.4m haul for Surrogates from 2,251 screens in 25 territories that raised the sci-fi thriller’s early tally to $28.4m.

Surrogates swept to the top in Mexico on $851,000 from 325 and was the top Hollywood title in South Korea on $2.5m from 250. It held on to top spot in Russia for the second weekend in a row on $2.2m from 625 for $8.9m and now ranks as Bruce Willis’ biggest film in the market.

In notable second weekend holds, the film added $1.2m in Spain from 305 for $3.6m and fourth place, $979,000 in the UK from 357 for $3.4m, and $958,000 in Australia from 176 for 2.9m and fourth place.

Pixar’s Up grossed a further $10.6m from 3,579 sites in 27 territories for $231m, adding $3.4m in Germany from 860 for $14.1m after three and staying top in Australia, where $2.6m from 279 raised the tally after five to $18.4m.

The family animation opened top in Denmark on $1m from 90 for the best Pixar launch in history and has now overtaken the entire run of Ratatouille in Brazil, where $821,000 from 317 pushed the tally up to $9.3m after five weekends. Norway delivered a number one hold on $690,000 from 130 for $2.2m after two.

G-Force crossed $100m as $5.3m from 2,221 in 36 territories elevated the running total to $100.7m. The film joins Up, Bolt and The Proposal as the company’s $100m-plus performers so far this year. The family action release added $1.6m in Australia for $5.2m after three weekends and raised the tally in Italy by $1.5m from 349 for $4m after two.

The Proposal added $2.4m from 1,206 in 34 territories for $144.3m and is expected to cross $150m with Japan to come on October 17. The romantic comedy remained the number one US film in release in France as $1.3m raised the total to $4.2m.

  • Universal/UPI’s Inglourious Basterds continued to be in fine form, adding $8.6m from 2,984 sites in 45 territories and climbing 1% over last weekend to $117m. The worldwide tally stands at $258.5m.

The film launched in Italy on $3m from 331 and added $1.9m in Spain from 378 for $11.4m after three weekends and third place. Germany has produced $20.9m after seven, France $22.7m, the Netherlands $5.5m and Australia $11m.

There are 18 territories to release over the next three months including Brazil and Mexico next weekend. South Korea opens on October 29 and Japan on November 20.

Pedro Almodovar scored his biggest opening weekend in Argentina as Broken Embraces took $153,000 from 35 sites. UPI will release in its markets over the next four months including Mexico on November 13 and Brazil on November 20.

  • Media Rights Capital/Universal’s Ricky Gervais comedy The Invention Of Lying tied for number one in the UK with Fame, taking $2.9m from 367. Funny People stands at $15.8m, Dutch title De Storm has taken $2.9m in the Netherlands where it ranks number one for the third weekend in a row. The film has taken $2.9m from the Netherlands and Belgium.

  • Warner Bros Pictures International’s horror release The Final Destination added $4.9m from 2,035 screens in 43 markets for $90.6m through the company and New Line International markets. The Hangover stands at $184.3m.

  • Fox International’s horror comedy Jennifer’s Body opened in four further territories this weekend taking $602,071 in Russia and $594,923 in Mexico, respectively. The $1.7m weekend haul brought the early tally to $2.8m.

  • Romantic comedy (500) Days Of Summer added $1.8m for $11.8m, while family title Aliens In The Attic has reached $29.9m and X-Men Origins: Wolverine dropped 26% in Japan and stands at $194.5m. Ice Age: Dawn of The Dinosaurs stands at $684.1m