Showtime for Coco

Gad Elmaleh's French comedy Coco has rocketed to the top of the international chart after a strong debut in France, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland. Coco is the directorial debut of Elmaleh, a popular actor and comedian who also stars in the title role. The film revolves around Coco, a self-made immigrant to France who plans to celebrate his son's bar mitzvah with a glamorous event of enormous scale. Released by StudioCanal, Coco grossed $12.7m from 902 screens in those territories, giving it the highest screen average of the weekend of $14,000. Late February-early March is traditionally the key window for the big comedy film launch of the year in the French market. The phenomenal run of Welcome To The Sticks began on February 29 last year. Dany Boon's box-office smash had an opening weekend of more than $40m and went on to gross more that $198.5m, with more than 20 million admissions in France alone.

Paramount Pictures International's animated action comedy Monsters Vs Aliens was the highest new US entry in the chart, debuting at seventh place after opening in the piracy-hit markets of Russia and Ukraine a week ahead of its North American release.

The bulk of the business came from Russia where the DreamWorks picture took $5.5m. In total, Monsters Vs Aliens grossed $6.2m from 644 screens, recording an average of $9,600 a screen. Monsters Vs Aliens is the first major 3D release of 2009.

In recent months the number of 3D-enabled screens has increased in territories including Italy, the US and the UK, partly in anticipation of the release of Monsters Vs Aliens. It will open in six international markets day-and-date with North America on March 27 before expanding further on April 3.