Dreamworks' animated sequel Shrek 2 continues itsgentle international roll out this weekend with a handful of major bows throughUIP - but is sidestepping Europe, which is engulfed by football fever thanks tothe Euro 2004 competition.

Shrek 2 firstreceived an international release in five Asian territories at the same time asits US launch at the end of May.

This week, the picture opened in Mexico on Jun 16, Australiaand Argentina on Jun 17 and launches in Brazil on Jun 18 and Taiwan a day lateron Jun 19.

Strong grosses would appear to be in order as none of thesemarkets will be affected by Euro 2004 and all produced good results when theoriginal opened in Jun 2001.

Meanwhile, the Dreamworks comedy Eurotrip goes out in Germanyand the Netherlands on Jun 17 and will inevitably take hits in bothfootball-crazy markets due to Germany's first round Euro 2004 game againstLatvia on Saturday(19) and Holland's match against the Czech Republic on thesame day.

Meanwhile Troy's mighty run of recent weeks will seeit safely past $300m for Warner Bros Pictures International this weekend. Ithas no major international openings left and has amassed a $297.6m runningtotal to date.

Warner executives will be keen to build on Harry PotterAnd The Prisoner Of Azkaban's $216.5m cumulative score when the pictureopens in Spain on Jun 18.

However June is typically a slow month at the Spanish boxoffice and attendance is expected to plummet due to Sunday's (20) crucial gamewith neighbours Portugal.

By way of comparison, trilogy predecessor Harry PotterAnd The Chamber Of Secrets opened top there in late November 2002 on $7.1mfrom 429 screens.

Elsewhere, decent holdover business will take FoxInternational's The Day After Tomorrow past $250m. The eco-disasterpicture has grossed $248.2m so far and has no major bows.

Universal's dance drama Honey was due to open inFrance through UIP on Jun 16, while Dreamworks-Universal's Cat In The Hatgoes out in Italy on the same day.

Italy play Sweden on Friday (18), which is expected to makethe traditionally slow summer there even harder for distributors.

UIP was due to release Paramount's Mean Girls inRussia on Jun 17 and the comedy may not suffer too much from Russia's gameagainst Greece on Sunday (20) as the country was eliminated from the tournamentyesterday (16).

Mean Girls opens in the UK on Jun 18 andthere are no games for England this weekend.

Miramax's Duplex will open through Buena VistaInternational in Australia on Jun 17, while Kill Bill Vol 2 goes out inRussia on the same day.

Duplex opens in Italy on Jun 18 and Jersey Girl isreleased in the UK on the same day.

BVI and CTFDI executives were unavailable to give details ofweekend releases at time of going to press.

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