Pirates Of The Caribbean is expected to pass $300m in international ticket sales this upcoming weekend, which also sees the first major European assault by The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LXG).

Buena Vista International's (BVI) Pirates has no major openings but strong holdovers should be enough to hoist its $295m running total past $300m.

Fox International begins its first major European roll-outs for LXG, with openings in France on Oct 1 on 600 prints and Oct 2 bows in Germany on 710 and Russia on 155. It also launches in Australia on 210 on Oct 2. The fantasy-adventure has amassed $35.8m at the international box office to date and should bolster its score with a strong weekend.

Most of the above territories have demonstrated a healthy appetite for large-scale genre openings. By way of comparison X2 grossed $7.9m from both Germany (897 sites) and France (701) in May and a lacklustre $754,060 in a slightly earlier bow in Australia at 330.

Fox International will also open the romantic comedy Down With Love in the UK on Oct 3 on 307 prints ($8.3m running total), Legally Blonde 2 in Korea on 60 on Oct 2 ($26m total) and Le Divorce, which is struggling on a $645,000 international cumulative score, in Mexico on Oct 3 on 50.

Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI) unleashes Bad Boys II ($31m running total) in the UK and Ireland on Oct 3 on 619 prints where it should easily claim the lead position. Columbia will rely on a strong following for Will Smith to do well as Men In Black 2 opened number one there in August 2002 and grossed $9.5m from 512 sites. It should certainly make up for the disaster that the distributor suffered with Gigli last weekend in the territory.

CTFDI also opens Bad Boys II in Spain on Oct 3 on 403 and releases Identity, which currently has a $22.3m running total, in Mexico on Oct 3 on 250.

BVI's Finding Nemo will open in the UK on a single screen platform release on Oct 3. Playing at the Odeon Leicester square in London's West End the release mirrors that of Pixar's Toy Story 2 in February 2000 which grossed nearly $250,000 from the same single venue on its opening weekend. Toy Story 2 then shot to the top of the chart when it went wide in its second week taking $13m (£7.8m). Finding Nemo is currently on $89.1m and also opens in Thailand on Oct 3.

Other BVI releases include Calendar Girls and Once Upon A Time In Mexico in Russia on Oct 1 ($17.5m and $4.2m totals respectively) and Veronica Guerin in France on Oct 1 ($6m). It will also launch comedy remake Freaky Friday in The Netherlands on 70 screens.

Universal's comedy sequel American Pie: The Wedding opens through UIP in both Russia and New Zealand on Oct 2, Italy and South Africa on Oct 3 and Taiwan on Oct 4.

The distributor will also open Johnny English in one of its last major markets, Japan, on Oct 4. To date the hit comedy has amassed more than $118.8m.

Paramount's The Italian Job opens through UIP in Korea on Oct 2 and Brazil on Oct 3.

Finally New Line opens Dumb And Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd in Germany on 125 on Oct 2. The film's current running total is $11.2m. Another New Line film, Freddy Vs Jason, opens in The Netherlands, distributed by local RCV Film Distribution, on 40 screens on Oct 2.