Toy Story 3 charms overseas market with $44.8m launch

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International top brass said this represented the highest opening for a Pixar film in these markets and improved on the all-time record holder Finding Nemo by a factor of 3.7.

Toy Story 3’s excellent launch easily dominated the overseas market in a weekend that was clearly affected by the early stages of the World Cup. Combined with the $109m North American launch, the global tally for the Pixar release already stands at $153.8m.

The key drivers were China and Latin America. China delivered $9.5m, an extraordinary result for an animation release that stands alone as the biggest to date.

The film grossed $25m from the region of Latin America, taking $14.3m from Mexico in the biggest animated launch ever there, as the 180m pesos local currency figure overshadowed the previous mark of 124.6m set by Ice Age 3.

In Brazil Toy Story 3 grossed $3.3m in a new Pixar record, while Argentina produced a magnificent $2.3m or 9.2m pesos to overtake The Simpsons’ 7.3m mark for the best industry launch. The film arrives in eight new markets next week including Australia.

Internationally, the film’s IMAX release generated approximately $1.2m from 47 IMAX theatres, bringing the global IMAX opening weekend total to $9.6m. Toy Story 3 is scheduled to open on an additional 29 IMAX theatres internationally during the days ahead..

• Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time added a further $10.2m from 8,680 screens in 54 territories in its fifth weekend for $213.1m. Alice In Wonderland added $700,000 from 933 in 21 for $685.6m and lies fifth in the overseas pantheon behind Ice Age 3 on $688.2m.
• In its second weekend, Fox International’s The A-Team grossed $13.9m from 4,929 screens in 48 markets to raise the tally to $34.7m, according to confirmed results released on Monday [21]

The highlights came from number one launches in France on $3m from 652 and Italy on $1.2m from 353. The action release added $2.2m from 324 in the second weekend in Australia for $6.2m and took a further $1.2m in South Korea from 271 for $3.3m. Russia has produced $3.4m and Taiwan $2.1m.

Marmaduke added $1.7m from 1,388 in 23 for $1m after two weekends and launched top in Spain on $904,768 from 323. Tooth Fairy has reached $4.9m in the UK after four weekends and $52.6m internationally..

• Sex And The City 2 grossed $13.5m from close to 6,600 screens in 562 markets according to confirmed numbers released on Monday [12] by Warner Bros Pictures International (WBPI).

The tally now stands at $157.9m and the key markets to date are the UK on $28m, Germany $20.4m, Australia $16.2m, Japan $11.8m, France $8.2m, Italy $7.3m and Spain $4.2m. Clash Of The Titans has grossed $328.5m.

• Shrek Forever After grossed $10m through Paramount Pictures International (PPI) from 2,107 sites in 20 territories, buoyed by a superb $8m number one debut in Australia from 312 locations, 76% of which was generated by 3-D screens.

The four-day opening total, which excludes $3.7m in previews, exceeded Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa by 62%, How To Train Your Dragon by 75%, and Ice Age 3 by 1%. The film’s international running total stands at $86m.

Iron Man 2 added $2m to reach $300m through all distributors. Of the weekend gross, $1.9m came from 4,360 sites in 62 territories through PPI, which has generated $290.6m.

The sequel took $1.4m in Japan from 322 sites in its second weekend for $7.5m in a result that like many others this weekend was impacted by the national football team’s World Cup commitments.

How To Train Your Dragon grossed $1.4m from 3,037 venues in 62 territories and has reached an excellent $260.2m. The film continued to perform strongly in South Korea, adding $820,000 from 408 in its fifth weekend for $20.1m.

• Universal Pictures International (UPI) had a lot of titles in action this weekend and Robin Hood delivered the biggest bounty as $4.3m from 5,800 sites in 56 territories raised the tally to $193.3m.

The film has amassed $5.1m in China and in two weekends and already ranks as Universal’s fifth biggest release in the territory, having overtaken Fast & Furious on $4.1m and Miami Vice on $3.8m. The UK is still the highest grossing territory on $21.6m, and combined with the US tally Robin Hood has reached $295m worldwide.

Get Him To The Greekgrossed $3.2m from 530 in five to post an early $4.9m international running total. The comedy opened second in Australia on $2.8m from 177.

Fatal, the company’s latest international acquisition to go on release, opened second in France on $2.5m from 470 dates and is expected to hold well during the upcoming Fete Du Cinema. UPI is distributing the German family comedy Hanni Und Nanni in Germany and Austria through its agreement with UFA and reported a $750,000 German launch from 411 venues. It opened second in Austria on $125,000 from 43.

Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang has reached $59.5m and Kick-Ass opened modestly in Mexico and Brazil to stand at $27.4m from Universal territories and $47m industry-wide.

Green Zonehas taken $40m through Universal, Greenberg has grossed $410,000 after two weekends in the UK, and MacGruber opened in the UK on $50,000 from 100 venues.

• Sony Pictures Releasing International’s The Karate Kid – a breakout hit in the US where it has crossed $100m in less than two weeks– added $5.4m from 835 screens in 21 markets for an early $14.6m running total. It opened top in the UAE and Vietnam and added just over $1m in its second weekend in Malaysia from 121 for $3m.

The Back-Up Plan added $1.7m from 875 in 45 for $30.3m through Sony and has amassed $33.3m industry-wide.

• The action comedy Killers, which Lionsgate pre-sold overseas, has grossed roughly $11m to date.