At the foreign box office last weekend, the one-two punch of Monsters Vs. Aliens and Fast and Furious led to the first time in ten weeks that business was up over last year.
Monsters Vs. Aliens colonized most of the world over the weekend, adding 41 new territories for a total of 49, and made $33.5 million, bringing its total to $46.9 million. The computer-animated comedy fared better overall than Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! at the same point, but it was a far cry from Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Kung Fu Panda and Ice Age: The Meltdown among comparable recent movies. The United Kingdom was Monsters' top-grossing market with $6.4 million at 520 venues, followed by first-place showings in Italy ($2.8 million) and Australia ($2.8 million). It faltered in Germany, ranking fifth with $1.4 million or less than half of Horton's start there last year.
Fast and Furious launched with $30.7 million from 32 markets, including a throaty, first-place $6 million in Germany that blazed past predecessor The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and was in line with 2 Fast 2 Furious. Fast and Furious was No. 1 in all but five of its territories, and it summarily smoked Monsters Vs. Aliens in all but two of the markets where they both debuted. It also generally had higher-grossing openings than 2 Fast 2 Furious, the franchise's overseas benchmark. This weekend, Fast and Furious enters the U.K., France and other significant markets.
In a distant third for the weekend, Knowing grossed $8.4 million from 17 markets for a $25 million total. That included a second-place $3.2 million start in France, which tripled the opening gross of The Forgotten but trailed The Happening. Knowing notched two top-ranked debuts in Taiwan and Belgium, and it strikes Germany this weekend.
Russian historical war drama Taras Bulba ranked fourth for the weekend with $7.1 million from its openings in Russia and the Ukraine alone. It was followed by Slumdog Millionaire, which, unsupported by new markets, collapsed 47 percent to $6.1 million (although China has yet to report). The drama's total stands at $186.1 million.
Marley and Me came in sixth with $5.8 million for an $86.6 million total. Its weekend was led by a second-place $2 million debut in Italy, which was slightly more than The Break-Up. British music comedy The Boat That Rocked, which doesn't open stateside until Aug. 28, bagged a passable $2.7 million in its U.K. debut, and Dragonball Evolution, which has its domestic start this weekend, continued to disappoint with soft openings in France and Russia. Meanwhile, Bedtime Stories inched past the $100 million mark, becoming only the third Adam Sandler vehicle to reach that milestone overseas behind You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Click.
