Fox International clinched the weekend crown in a hotly contested overseas market that saw The Simpsons Movie and Die Hard 4.0 both cross $200m, Disney's Ratatouille pass $100m, and Warner Bros' fifth Harry Potter reach $550m.

Final results on Monday will determine the true winner, however for now The Simpsons Movie appears to have pipped Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix at the post with an estimated $22m tally versus $21m.

The animated release performed strongly in holdover markets, adding $4m from 502 screens in the UK for $60.2m, $2.7m from 890 in Germany for $29.7m, $2.6m from 699 in France for $19.6m, $2.4m from 431 in Australia for $22.2m, and $1.5m from 620 in Spain for $21.5m.

The film grossed $1.9m from 918 screens in Mexico for $11.6m after two weekends, and opened in four territories including Hong Kong on $490,000 from 40. The Simpsons Movie crossed $200m on Thursday [Aug 9].

Die Hard 4.0 raised its international running total by $5.6m from 1,291 screens for $203m and crossed $200m on Saturday [Aug 11].

It opened in Australia on $3.4m from 360 and New Zealand on $495,0000 from 66, and added $1m in Brazil from 365 in the second weekend for $3.6m.

Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer took $11.4m from 1,815 screens for $122.3m, powered by launches in France on $4.8m from 750 and Spain on $3.9m from 510.

Harry Potter generated $21m from almost 8,200 prints in 61 territories for $550m. The children's adventure opened number one in Turkey on $1.3m (YTL 1.7m), while modest holds drove the bulk of weekend business.

Japan generated $3.5m for $51.8m, Germany $2.1m for $56m, and the UK $1.9m for $89.2m, which remains the biggest territory gross.

Ocean's Thirteen grossed $6m from more than 1,400 prints in 45 markets for $169m, powered by a $5m (¥603m) launch in Japan from 463 screens.

The romantic comedy No Reservations, which opened in North America three weeks ago and stands at a little under $33m, opened in several Latin American territories and raised the overseas tally by $1.1m from 41 prints to $3.5m.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International's (WDSMPI) Ratatouille is on a surge and added $19.2m from 3,687 sites in 27 territories for $120m.

The Pixar film becomes Disney's 54th international release to cross $100m and the company's 17th animated film to cross $300m worldwide.

The rat stayed top in seven out of the nine territories it opened in last week, led by another emphatic result in France, where in the second weekend it dropped only 28% on $9.3m from 721 venues for $25.3m and is on course to overtake the final tally for Cars before long.

It added $2m in Japan following a 10% drop for $16.6m, and raised its tally in Spain by $1.9m from 523 sites to $8.7m.

Ratatouille grossed $1.3m in Belgium from 75 sites for $2.5m, $700,000 in South Korea from 252 for $6.2m, $650,000 in Holland from 142 for $1.8m, and $585,000 in Hong Kong from 40 for $1.9m.

DreamWorks/Paramount's Transformers grossed $16.3m through PPI from 5,239 sites in 56 territories and now stands at $328m.

The high-octane action release film grossed $3.4m from 616 screens in its second weekend in Japan and is heading into the lucrative Obon holiday on $12.7m.

It added $2.6m in Germany from 662 sites for $10.3m, $2.5m in the UK from 458 sites for $36.3m, and $1.4m in France from 709 screens for $12.6m.

The fantasy romp Stardust opened day-and-date with North America in Russia and took $3m including previews from 435 sites. It opens in South Korea next weekend.

Shrek The Third added $2m from 2,780 venues in 54 territories for $412m and still has some way to go bearing in mind ther are scheduled launches in Italy, Scandinavia and Greece at the end of the month.

Universal/UPI's action sequel The Bourne Ultimatum opened well in 350 venues in 11 territories on $3.8m. The biggest result was a number one $1m in Taiwan in 56 theatres.

It opened top in Indonesia on an excellent $400,000 that generated Universal's third biggest opening behind King Kong and Mr Bean's Holiday. A superb $600,000 from 30 in UAE produced the company's second biggest debut behind Mr Bean's Holiday.

There were three other number one launches as The Bourne Ultimatum took $790,000 in Thailand from 49 sites, $465,000 in Hong Kong from 30 theatres, and $315,000 in South Africa from 77 sites. There are 10 new releases scheduled for next weekend, among them the UK and Spain.

Comedy Evan Almighty opened in eight markets and added $6m from a total of 28 territories for $22.8m. It opened at number four in Germany on $1.3m from 330 sites, and added $1.3m in the UK for $6.3m, $750,000 in Mexico for $3.2m, and $550,000 in Brazil for $1.9m.

Two other comedies were in play. Knocked Up added $820,000 from nine for $16.9m, while I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry took $375,000 from five for $2.6m.

The animated film Surf's Up added $4.9m for Sony Pictures Releasing International from 1,565 screens in 31 markets for $12.9m.

The film opened at number two in Mexico on $1.1m from 34 screens, number seven in the UK on $1.1m from 430, and number four in South Korea on $940,000 from 250.

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