Around the World Roundup: 'Ring Two' Tops Weak Lot
In the slowest weekend of the year to date, The Ring Two led the way with $16.3 million from 24 territories, including predictably sequel-like debuts and falls, for a $32.6 million foreign total to date. Hitch continued to be the fallback for many moviegoers, while Robots successfully lured in families.

The Ring Two had slightly larger openings than The Ring in most markets. The biggest improvement was in France where The Ring Two topped its predecessor by 55 percent with a $2.2 million No. 1 debut from 403 screens. Back in 2002, The Ring debuted in fifth place there with $1.4 million from 374 screens. Business also picked up in Germany, where the sequel grossed a chart-topping $3 million from 445 screens, ranking first, beating the original's fourth place entry of $2 million from 346 screens in 2002. However, in the United Kingdom, The Ring Two opened to $3.3 million from 419 screens, falling short of The Ring's $4.2 million debut from 396 screens. In Spain, it nabbed $2.9 million from 320 screens, ranking first in the generally horror-crazed market. Italy, Russia, South Korea and Japan are still on The Ring Two's horizon, but the picture will ultimately fall short of The Ring's $120.2 million overseas total.

Robots scored $10.8 million over the weekend from 44 territories for a $69.2 million total and is on track to become the third 2005 release to pass the century mark. The computer-animated comedy's best take over the weekend came from the U.K. where it grossed $1.9 million from 488 situations in its third week, off 32% for a $16 million total. It opened in first place in Taiwan with a decent $562,000 from 166 screens. In Australia, it remained No. 1 with a $1.4 million weekend and a $4.7 million total. Other stand-out totals include Mexico's $9.1 million and Spain $7.8 million.

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous had a lukewarm reception in most markets, leading to a mediocre $7.4 million weekend from 24 countries for a soft $24 million total. In Brazil, the comedy opened at No. 2 with a mediocre $458,700 from 133 screens, down three percent from the first Miss Congeniality's debut there. In Thailand, it also bowed in second with $288,700 from 57 prints, off 12 percent from the original. In Indonesia, however, it beat its predecessor by 85 percent with a solid $111,000 first place debut from 28 screens. Turkey's $180,000 debut from 66 prints was 40 percent above the original, but both South Korea ($447,000) and Sweden ($118,000 from 40 screens) fell short. Among holdovers, Miss Congeniality 2 showed poise in the U.K. ($6.1 million total) and Australia ($3.9 million total), but not in Germany (down 56 percent) and Spain ( down 54 percent). Overall, business has been below expectations in almost every country, and the Sandra Bullock sequel will likely end up only a bit past $50 million.

Hitch bagged $11 million in its seventh weekend of release for a $148,9 million total. Holdovers were generally down more than 35 percent, and, with openings in only the Czech Republic ($46,117 on 19), Nigeria ($10,912 on 1) and Slovakia ($10,804 on 6), the Will Smith romantic comedy lacked any jolt. Top earning markets so far are Germany's $30 million, the U.K.'s $26.8 million, France's $11.4 million, Australia's $9.9 million and Italy's $8.3 million.

Constantine rose to $117.8 million overseas, entering Russia over the weekend. Capitalizing on the country's religiousness with its heaven-versus-hell struggle, the supernatural thriller grossed $1.8 million there from 188 screens, including previews, topping The Last Samurai by 33 percent and X2: X-Men United by 7 percent. Constantine opened strongly across Eastern Europe with first place starts in Latvia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Slovenia and Croatia and a No. 2 debut in Romania. In the U.K., it has collected $10.4 million through its third weekend.

National Treasure became Nicolas Cage's biggest global hit with $335.8 million worldwide, surpassing his previous best Dwayne Johnson's $335.1 million. Overseas grosses accounted for $165.3 million of that total, including Japan's solid $13.2 million and China's $2.1 million, both through their third weekends.



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