Could a sequel to Garfield be in the works? I wouldn't doubt it if it keeps up this pace much longer. This weekend it again finished second with $8.4 million on 3400 screens in 41 markets. Its international total has already topped its domestic total $77 million to $75 million, and after a $4 million opening in Spain this past weekend $100 million internationally is practically guaranteed. And with Australia next week, Italy the week after than and Japan a week later, the film could be sticking around in the top five for a while.

A strong opening in Greece helped King Arthur climb into third place with $6.5 million this past weekend. The $1.4 million it took in was the best ever for a live-action Disney movie in that market.

The German debut for The Chronicles of Riddick was stronger than the rest of its international run might have otherwise suggested. However, at $2.3 million, it still isn't enough given the films massive budget. Overall, the film made $6.1 million on 2000 screens in 23 markets to raise its international total to $47 million.

While a promotional visit by star, Matt Damon helped The Bourne Supremacy's debut in Russia, it was overshadowed by the recent tragedy there. That result combined with a slightly disappointing debut in Mexico and steeper than expected drop in Australia left the film fifth place this weekend. Overall its numbers dropped to $5.9 million on 1200 screens in 15 markets. The good news is, even with these results, this film should still top the original and with a little luck, hit $300 million worldwide.

Other highlights on the international scene include:

• An impressive $5.8 million opening in Japan should Van Helsing top $300 million worldwide as it currently sites just $18 million shy of that figure.
• The Terminal took in $5.2 million thanks to a trio of number one debuts in The U.K., Italy and Taiwan.
• Shrek 2 saw a record opening in Denmark, but was far less impressive in Sweden and Finland. Its weekend haul of $3.7 million pushed its international total to $422.3 million so far.
• A number one opening in Portugal helped push I, Robot's weekend numbers to $3.4 million and its overall number to $147 million. With debuts in Japan and Italy still to come, $300 million worldwide is assured at this point.
• Thanks to several openings in South Asian nations, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid saw its weekly take increase slightly to $2.7 million. So far the film has brought in $7.2 million in 10 markets.
• Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story dropped a very respectable 37% during its second weekend in the U.K., which helped it earn $2.6 million over the weekend and $10.2 million overall.
• 13 Going on 30 has been having trouble atracting audiences outside of English speaking markets. And this weekend there was a perfect example of that trend; the film earned $1.4 million in Australia, but less than $200 thousand in Italy. Overall the film took in $2.4 million to raise its total to $25.3 million so far.
• Hellboy's international run can only be described as mediocre, and a $1.9 million opening in the U.K. was another such result. So far the film has taken in $21.5 million in 23 markets aided by the $2.3 million this weekend.
• House of Flying Daggers's weekend box office in Japan dropped to $2.3 million, but that was still enough to push its total in the market to $10.2 million and $32 million overall. I'm looking forward to seeing how well this film will do in comparison to Hero when it opens Stateside in December.
• Mean Girls continues to beat expectations in non-English speaking markets with strong openings in Spain and South Korea and impressive holdovers in Germany and Austria. This weekend it added $2.2 million on 1000 screens in 19 markets to push its total to $34.6 million.
• Alien vs. Predator's winning streak ended with middling openings in South Korea and Brazil. It still saw an improvement from last weekend as it brought in $2.1 million raising its total to $8.4 million in 8 markets so far.
• Still waiting for its Italian debut, Spider-man 2 took in another $1.9 million over the weekend to raise its international total to $375 million.
• Fahrenheit 9/11 was very impressive in its second weekend in Italy earning $1.56 million, the same as it did for its debut. This bodes well for the films legs in the region as it has already made $4.9 million there and raising its international total to $67 million.
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban earned another $1.5 million over the weekend to push its international total to a year's best $525 million. That's just behind Finding Nemo for 8th place on the all time chart.
• Catwoman could only muster $1.1 million on 1500 screens in 23 markets. An international total of $21.6 million so far is just not enough.
• A Cinderella Story earned $450 thousand during it third weekend in the U.K. for a total of $5 million in that market.

Source: Variety
Date posted: 2004-09-08