Sean Penn's latest directorial effort, The Pledge, saw strong openings in several key territories this week and continues to find solid success in others. Opening in Germany and Switzerland on Oct 11 and the UK on Oct 12 the drama, which features an all-star cast headlined by Jack Nicholson, showed impressive performances from limited releases.

In the UK the film grossed a three-day figure of $142,100 from just 34 sites for a resounding site average of $6,066, a result mirrored by the meaty $6,322 average taken in Switzerland from the four-day opening of $82,186 on just 13 screens. The German opening saw figures of $304,616 from 121 screens.

Also on release in France the film attracted 377,166 admissions (equivalent to approximately $2.3m) in its first three weeks on release, with Paris accounting for 135,560 tickets sold. The third film directed by Penn, after 1991's The Indian Runner and 1995's The Crossing Guard, which also starred Nicholson, The Pledge took a total of $520,810 in Australia from just 16 screens after opening in August. The film is distributed in the UK, Germany and France by Warner Bros, in Switzerland by Rialto, Australia by Roadshow and will by released this weekend in Italy by Warner Bros.

Meanwhile American Pie 2 took the UK, Danish and Finnish box offices by storm at the weekend as it continued its international roll-out. The film saw three-day totals of $225,414 from 26 sites in Finland, $254,674 from 35 in Denmark and a massive $8m in the UK, where it has since taken a further $2.5m. Released in most international territories by UIP the film has grossed $44.4m to date and is yet to open in most major territories including Japan, Australia, Italy, Spain and Mexico. Pie 2 makes its French debut this week. Strong performances so far include Germany, where it has held the top position for three weeks running, with $23.4m, Austria ($2.5m), Switzerland ($1.8m), The Netherlands ($1.4m after two weeks on release) and Israel ($1.2m).