020102

Playing winning hands in Japan and Mexico, Ocean's Eleven may have capped off The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings's six-week spree. Warner Brothers estimates the crime caper picture at $16 million from 2,855 engagements in 20 territories for a great $81 million and it hasn't even started in the United Kingdom and France. In Japan, the Steven Soderbergh-helmed film cruies to the 11th highest opening weekend ever in Japan with $6.5 million on 367 screens. The film also dazzled its way to pole position in Mexico, notching $2.2 million on 400 and South Africa with $242,000 on 76 (the market's eighth biggest bow).

Monsters, Inc. started to unravel its European tour with awesome debuts in Germany, $3.1 million on 736 prints (the market's fourth-biggest toon bow), Austria, $570,000 on 94 (the best debut by a Pixar cartoon), and Poland, $250,000 on 60. Disney also got excellent ticket sales in Taiwan ($415,000 on 18) as its cume rose to $58.5 million.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring may still have coined in the most change over the weekend as New Line estimated a $16 million weekend (the same as Ocean's Eleven) on 7,600 prints for a spectacular $393 million total, surpassing The Lost World: Jurassic Park to become the sixth highest international grosser ever.

Despite economic turmoil, Rings managed to pull a stellar $1.2 million on 120 screens in Argentina, which is an all-time record for Warner Brothers, beating Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone, and the market's third-biggest in history behind Titanic and Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace. In Hong Kong the epic fantasy ran in with another hot $1.2 million on 51.

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone continued to grab strong holdovers and an awesome debut in Turkey. In Turkey the picture took the industry's third-best opening with $580,000 on 102. For the weekend Potter took $8.3 million on 4,451 screens in 52 countries for $592.5 million. By Friday it should climb over $600 million putting it comfortably ahead of Jurassic Park's $563 million in second place behind Titanic.

Vanilla Sky didn't dissipate too much thanks to Italy's $2.2 million on 287 screens and a decent $911,000 on 292 in Spain. The Tom Cruise/Penelope Cruz starrer fell a reasonable 36% in the U.K. for a perfect $8.8 million in 10 days, 34% in Germany for $4.7 million in 11 days, but plummeted 75% in France eyeing a modest $3.2 million 11 days thanks to Asterix et Obelix: Mission Cleopatra which took over $4 million in its first days of release.

Fox's thriller From Hell took a commendable second place in France with $1.1 million on 298 screens. From Hell is finally tapering off in Italy after pocketing a wonderful $8.5 million.

Black Hawk Down captured $884,000 on 101 in South Korea, trailing two Korean titles. The picture also choppered a feisty $390,000 on 74 in the Philippines.

Next weekend Ocean's Eleven jumps into 789 screens in France along with local 8 Femmes at 488 screens. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius makes its first offshore appearance in France also at 402 as Glitter debuts at 150 screens. Rush Hour 2 makes its long awaited debut in Germany next weekend with no new competition. And From Hell battles Monsters, Inc. in the United Kingdom as Just Visiting receives a limited release.

Expect only amazing numbers from all the front runners. Ocean's Eleven should take over $4.5 million in France as Jimmy Neutron squeezes about $2.3 million. In Germany Rush Hour 2 could take about $3.4 million and in the U.K. Monsters, Inc. should capture the lead with $7 million and From Hell should follow with about $2.2 million.

These are my predicted foreign totals for the selected films:

Monsters, Inc.: $204 million

Black Hawk Down: $141 million

Spy Game: $112 million

Ocean's Eleven: $205 million

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: $578 million

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone: $624 million (I'm going out on a limb!)

Atlantis: The Lost Empire: $105 million

The Princess Diaries: $71 million

Shrek: $259 million

American Pie 2: $161 million

The Others: $126 million