A strongJapanese bow this upcoming weekend should be enough to push Buena VistaInternational's (BVI) animated hit Brother Bear past $100m in international ticketsales.

The picture hasamassed $95.8m and executives will be hoping for a strong bow in Japan, whichcan be a highly accommodating animation market as evidence by Finding Nemo's number one $10.3m December 2003opening.

BVI (via thefilm's co-producer Dimension Films) also opens Starsky & Hutch on platform release in the UK on Mar 12,followed by a wide expansion on Mar 19.

Universal'sromantic comedy Along Came Polly is once again shaping up to be the dominant force in Europe thisweekend with scheduled openings in France, Italy and Spain.

The romanticcomedy has grossed $26.3m from its international travels so far and went out inFrance through UIP on Mar 10 on 325 prints and opens in Italy and Spain on Mar12 on 203 and 255 prints respectively.

Strong bows seemassured given Polly'srecent European performances and solid February openings for Something'sGotta Give in Spain ($2.4min first place), Italy ($1.6m in third) and France ($2.2m in fifth).

The dance drama Honey goes out in the UK on Mar 12 on 325hoping to build on its $14.3m international running total.

Elsewhere,Paramount's boxing drama Against The Ropes opens in Mexico on Mar 12 and the distributor's sci-fithriller Paycheckopens in Brazil on Mar 12 and Japan on Mar 13.

Columbia'shorror picture Gothika,which has taken $31m through all international distributors so far, goes out inGermany through Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI) on Mar11 on 396 screens.

CTFDI will alsoopen The Rundown inGermany on Mar 11 on 508. The adventure picture has taken $21.8m from CTFDImarkets to date.

The drama MonaLisa Smile rolls out inthe UK on Mar 12 on 420 screens and has grossed $61m through all distributorsto date.

FoxInternational will release the family picture Good Boy! in Brazil on Mar 12 on 50 prints ($5.6minternational running total), the thriller Out Of Time in Korea on Mar 12 on 30 and thriller RunawayJury in Taiwan on Mar 13on 30 ($20.2m).

Latest international runningtotals released by the distributor put the comedies Stuck On You on $28.5m and Cheaper By The Dozen on $34.6m.