"New Moon" still shining atop overseas box office

Actors Robert Pattinson (L), Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner (R) pose during a photocall to promote their latest film ''The Twilight Saga: New Moon'' in Madrid November 12, 2009.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" held the No. 1 position at the overseas box office for a third straight weekend.

With estimated grosses of $40.7 million (24.7 million pounds) from 9,167 screens in 62 markets, the Summit International vampire romance brought its total offshore tally to $314.5 million.

A No. 1 South Korea opening provided "New Moon" with $5.6 million over five days at 450 locations. The film's top foreign territory remains the U.K., where the teen favourite's market total is nearly $40 million ($39.2 million) over three rounds. Its worldwide gross stands at $570.1 million.

During a generally tame weekend overseas, Sony's "2012" finished second with $35 million drawn from 10,295 screens in 75 markets, hoisting its international gross past the half-billion-dollar mark ($517.5 million). No. 3 was "Disney's A Christmas Carol" with Jim Carrey as Scrooge. Thanks to a first-place Italy introduction ($4 million from 400 sites), the holiday film garnered $16.9 million from 5,400 situations in 46 territories for an overseas total of $118.2 million; its worldwide gross is $233.2 million.

The No. 4 film during the weekend was Warner Bros.' local-language German co-production "Zweiohrkuken," a romantic comedy directed, co-written by and starring Til Schweiger. A No. 1 Germany opening provided an estimated $9.1 million from 900 locations.

No. 5 was "Up," which opened at No. 1 in Japan with $7 million from 525 spots. Its overall weekend tally was $8 million. Disney said "Up" will "easily" surpass 2007's "Ratatouille" (which grossed $414 million overseas).

ANTICIPATING 'AVATAR'

The box-office tempo overseas is poised to accelerate sharply when 20th Century Fox begins its international rollout of James Cameron's "Avatar" on December 16. The much-anticipated 3D sci-fi adventure movie will play some 16,549 foreign screens in about 106 countries, with most openings coinciding with the film's December 18 U.S. debut.

The solid overseas performance in recent weeks of late-year releases, along with the anticipated "Avatar" bonanza, have reinforced the view that 2009 will set another international box-office record for the six major Hollywood studios. Sony, Disney and Fox are assured solid gains this year.

Sony said that during the weekend, it grossed $2 billion overseas in 2009 thanks to a trio of late-summer and fall releases: "2012" ($500 million offshore), Michael Jackson documentary "This Is It" ($180 million, setting a record for a concert film); and romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth" ($114.2 million). Earlier in the year, Sony released "Angels & Demons," which racked up $352.6 million in foreign grosses, and "Terminator Salvation," with $220.6 million. In 2008, Sony grossed $1.38 billion overseas.

Powered by 2009's biggest foreign box-office hit, "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" (total overseas gross, $690.4 million), Fox has grossed $1.8 billion thus far internationally, about $200 million more than the comparable 2008 figure. The $2 billion mark for 2009 is within easy range given projected box office for "Avatar."

Disney has notched a foreign gross of more than $1.5 billion thanks largely to the international success of the Pixar animation title "Up" ($390 million overseas and still playing). In 2008, Disney recorded $1.37 billion in foreign box office.

The top studio at the foreign box office in 2008 was Paramount, which grossed $2.037 billion foreign. (Warner Bros. passed the $2 billion overseas-market gross in 2007 and 2004, and Fox did it in 2006.) So far in 2009, Paramount has grossed $1.3 billion.