Sunday, July 09, 2006

Meanwhile, The Foreign Box Office

One week back, the weekend prior to July 4th saw "Over the Hedge" at the top of the heap in Great Britain... But DreamWorks' animated film stayed there all of one week. Seven days later, "Pirates of the Caribbean" has blown away all competition in the U.K. and elsewhere, just as it has in the U.S. of A... Walt Disney Pictures' high-seas sequel finished first in each market it played: the U.K., Korea, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan, New Zealand and Uruguay. Including its No. 1 opening-weekend U.S. estimate ($132 million), the film's worldwide box office stands at nearly $179 million. Most of the foreign haul came from the U.K. with an estimated $25 million. In Korea, it nabbed about $9 million, a record opening weekend for the market, according to Disney. In Taiwan, it generated $1.9 million. This weekend, the film bows in an additional 18 territories. Of course, don't look at "Pirates" shoving "Hedge" back to second in line as the triumph of live action over animation. After all, it was animation legend Marc Davis who developed the ride on which the current epic is based. And a Disney animation staffer was the one who pitched the idea of turning "Pirates of the Caribbean, the Ride" into "Pirates of the Caribbean, the Movie" in the first place.

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