Around the World Roundup: 'Night' Reigns for Third Weekend
Night at the Museum led the foreign box office for the third consecutive weekend with a $20 million from 38 markets. The sole family event in the world right now, Night surged past the $150 million mark. The movie's weekend was highlighted by Brazil's $2.8 million opening from 502 screens, which was distributor 20th Century Fox's third highest launch of all time there. Elsewhere, Night stayed on top in Germany ($2.6 million weekend) and remained potent in the United Kingdom ($3.9 million), Russia ($983,000) and Mexico ($1.5 million).

Eragon and Casino Royale duked it out for second place internationally, but the result was too close to call with each grossing about $10.2 million. Eragon continued to surprise with the Philippines' top-ranked debut $529,000 and South Korea's second place $2.8 million start. Eragon's most impressive market has been France where, after four weeks, it has grossed $20 million.

Casino Royale had no openings but became the first James Bond picture to crack the century mark in the U.K. alone, accumulating $101.3 million after a $1.6 million ninth frame. Elsewhere, Casino slid 47 percent in its second weekend in Italy for a $7.7 million total and nabbed $1.3 million in its eighth weekend in Germany for a $48.2 million tally.

Will Smith demonstrated his overseas bankabilty again with the four-market release of The Pursuit of Happyness. The drama beat out Rocky Balboa to top Italy with $4.7 million from 391 screens, more than doubling Smith's previous picture, Hitch. Pursuit was tops in Australia ($2.8 million from 222) and the U.K. ($5 million from 413 screens) as well, each of which were on par with Hitch. Since Bad Boys generated $75.6 million overseas in 1995, eight out of ten Smith vehicles have grossed more than $100 million internationally, and Pursuit aims to join the club after a $12.7 million weekend.

Rocky Balboa packed punch with a $9.5 million weekend from six markets. The franchise's sixth installment was a knock-out in Spain with a top-ranked $3.4 million from 301 screens. In Italy, Balboa delivered a potent, second-place $3.7 million start from 331 screens, and it also opened in Mexico to $1.6 million from 369 screens.

Crossing the $100 million mark, The Holiday grabbed $7.5 million over the weekend, which included two solid openings in Mexico ($817,042) and Argentina ($153,027). Also climbing past $100 million were Open Season and Perfume - The Story of a Murderer.

Pathfinder and Smokin' Aces debuted internationally in advance of their domestic releases and solid starts for their genres. Smokin' Aces hit the U.K. with a third-place $2 million from 338 screens, which was slightly higher than previous crime comedy Lucky Number Slevin. Meanwhile, period action picture Pathfinder opened in four markets to $1.9 million, highlighted by Russia's $1.5 million.

Also making its foreign debut was The Last King of Scotland in the U.K. with a solid $1.7 million from 246 screens. By comparison, The Queen opened to $1.6 million there.

In addition to Eragon, Deja Vu and Blood Diamond debuted in South Korea. Deja Vu landed in sixth place with a potent $1.7 million from 200 screens, and, overall, the time travel thriller has done better than expected overseas with $79.5 million. Blood Diamond came in ninth with $983,666 from a low 138 screen count. The adventure drama made $3.3 million overall in its second foreign weekend.

RELATED LINKS

• International Box Office Results

• South Korea Weekly Chart