Three films crossed the much sought after $100m international box office mark this week, led by Oscar contender Gangs Of New York.

Martin Scorsese's historical epic tipped over the mark to record a total international cumulative gross of $103.5m. Continued strong runs in Spain and Germany scored the bulk of the film's weekend take. In Spain, where it is distributed by Manga, Gangs added $936,626 (Euro 870,126) over the weekend, a fall of just 27% on the previous weekend. After three weeks in the territory it has grossed $5.6m in Spain. In Germany the film has earnt $5.6m after four weeks for 20th Century Fox, taking $512,853 last weekend.

Gangs Of New York launched in Hong Kong on March 13 taking $227,000 (HK$1.8m) over the weekend from just 18 screens, an average of $12,611. Other strong territories for the film include Japan ($24.7m), the UK ($16.7m), France ($13.4m) and Italy ($8.1m). It is next released this weekend (Mar 21) in Denmark, followed by Russia (Mar 27) and Poland (Apr 4).

Gangs Of New York's international gross has increased 48% (from $70m) since the Academy Award nominations on Feb 11, although its domestic take has only gone up from $70m to $76.2m in the same time. Significantly the big box office Oscar winner is Chicago. The musical had grossed approximately $23m from international territories as of Feb 11 and $63.8m domestic. Its totals now stand at $61m (+165%) and $124.8m (+96%) respectively.

With 13 nominations Chicago is the most nominated picture this year and will hope that fact benefits it on the night - in 51 of the past 74 years the most nominated film has won best picture.

DreamWorks horror remake The Ring also reached $100m over the weekend through continued strength. With a current total of $101.9m, with $85.3m coming from UIP handled territories and the rest from Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan - where it took $14.5m and nearly doubled the gross of the locally produced original, the film has played particularly well in the UK ($13m), Mexico ($12.4m) and Spain ($10m).

UIP celebrated 8 Mile's passing of the magic $100m mark on Thursday (Mar 20) with the Eminem drama crossing the line Wednesday night for a total gross of $100.3m. The film enjoyed a strong weekend headed by a $3.1m opening in Italy. 8 Mile is the first film from director Curtis Hanson to make $100m from international territories.

8 Mile has enjoyed particular success in the UK ($20.8m), Germany ($16.6m), France ($10.7m), Australia ($9.4m) and Spain ($7.5m). It is set to open in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and South Africa this week and Japan on May 24.