Wolfgang Becker's Good Bye, Lenin! - which was named as Germany's contender for the Oscar foreign language section this week - continues to prove an international box office sensation as it nears the $50m international cumulative mark.

The X Filme Creative Pool production, for which Bavaria Film International handles worldwide sales, has grossed over $48m (Euro 43m) to date according to Bavaria.

The German-language film is the second highest grossing non-English language film internationally this year, behind Hong Kong-China co-production Hero ($72.8m), and ranks in the top 20 films of the year so far at the international box office.

This week saw Lenin! enjoy a raft of strong launches in France, Belgium and Norway for Ocean Films, ABC and Fidalgo respectively.

In France, the comedy sold 163,695 tickets from just 89 screens in its first week on release, netting $1.03m (Euro 0.9m). This awarded the film third place in the French chart and saw it boast a screen average of nearly 1,000 admissions per screen - more than chart leader Bruce Almighty. In Paris Lenin! placed second to Bruce Almighty with a mighty 76,140 admissions from 23 screens.

Belgium saw a $33,172 (Euro 29,357) take in its first five days from 11 screens - a $3,016 screen average. Norway managed 3,166 admissions in its first three days at only 10 screens and grossed $29,664 (NKR 216,990).

Good Bye, Lenin! is already the second highest grossing local film of all time in Germany, ranking behind only 2001's Manitou's Shoe (Der Schuh Das Manitu), where it has grossed $42m (Euro 37m) from 6.25m admissions. It is distributed by X-Verleih in its homeland.

The success has also been seen across Europe with Switzerland's Filmcoopi Zurich taking $1.67m (SFR 2.3m) - it rose 147% last weekend (its second) in the French-region of the country when it added a second print. It opened in the German-region 27 weeks ago. Lady Film in Italy has taken $1.55m (Euro 1.4m) to date, while in Denmark, Ost for Paradis has grossed $156,810 (DKR 1.03m).

UGC Films in the UK have taken Lenin! to $1.45m (£0.9m) making it the highest grossing German-language film in the UK ahead of Run Lola Run's $0.76m (£0.48m). It opens in Russia on Oct 2 and through Cinemien in The Netherlands on Nov 13.

It is not just Europe that has welcomed the film with open arms. In Israel the film has taken approximately $170,000 (Shekels 750,000) from just eight prints since being released in late July by Orlando Films. The film was supported by a visit from Becker to the Jerusalem film festival where the film premiered in the country. The distributor hopes to reach 100,000 admissions by the end of the year, which would make Good Bye, Lenin! the most successful German-language film ever in Israel.