'Black Swan' continues its twirl overseas

LOS ANGELES: Despite "Tangled's" continued lock on first place, "Black Swan" landed just a feather away from taking the top spot at foreign theaters over the weekend, missing No. 1 by a mere $131,664.

An obvious "Oscar Bump" is strongly in play as international audiences in 29 territories boosted the mainstream art house wonder over the $150 million mark in global revenue with $16.7 million in weekend receipts.

Third place got an unexpected visitor as the Franco-Belgian comedy "Nothing to Declare" in just four territories earned an impressive $13.95 million and is approaching $50 million worldwide. For a film that most people stateside have never heard of, that's not a bad haul.

In six more territories than last week another Oscar darling, "The King's Speech," held steady in fourth place with $13.2 million and a global cumulative that is just a shilling shy of $200 million. And other Oscar contenders continued to make their mark in the Top 20, with "True Grit" in ninth place and "The Fighter" in 19th place, having just crossed the $100 million mark in global dollars.

Here are the top 20 movies at international theaters last weekend, followed by international gross for the weekend (excluding North America), number of theater locations, number of territories, worldwide gross to date (including North America), and number of weeks in release as compiled Wednesday by global media measurement company Rentrak Corp. and provided by Hollywood.com:

"Tangled," $16,871,286, 4,400 locations, 44 territories, $490,473,734, 12 weeks.

2. "Black Swan," $16,739,622, 3,484 locations, 29 territories, $155,421,621, 11 weeks.

3. "Nothing to Declare," $13,956,964, 1,129 locations, four territories, $46,882,950, three weeks.

4. "The King's Speech," $13,211,028, 3,893 locations, 26 territories, $199,976,798, 12 weeks.

5. "Sanctum," $11,958,392, 3,856 locations, 13 territories, $45,453,535, two weeks.

6. "The Green Hornet," $10,787,977, 7,822 locations, 59 territories, $200,046,313, five weeks.

7. "Yogi Bear," $9,278,119, 4,246 locations, 31 territories, $155,338,796, nine weeks.

8. "Kokowääh," $8,524,143, 876 locations, three territories, $21,659,756, two weeks.

9. "True Grit," $8,469,692, 3,385 locations, 16 territories, $177,921,814, eight weeks.

10. "Gulliver's Travels," $7,644,591, 1,992 locations, 36 territories, $183,300,808, eight weeks.

11. "Tron Legacy," $6,289,869, 2,075 locations, 26 territories, $356,084,840, nine weeks.

12. "No Strings Attached," $5,525,670, 3,098 locations, 17 territories, $71,811,219, four weeks.

13. "Gnomeo and Juliet," $5,348,317, 3,633 locations, seven territories, $34,476,335, one week.

14. "Just Go With It," $5,229,806, 4,463 locations, 13 territories, $44,182,893, one week.

15. "Hereafter," $4,487,711, 1,500 locations, 27 territories, $88,829,879, six weeks.

16. "The Tourist," $4,234,232, 2,601 locations, 50 territories, $230,777,671, 10 weeks.

17. "Femmine Contro Maschi," $3,362,288, locations NA, one territory, $10,450,509, two weeks.

18. "Detective K: Secret of a Peddler's Inn," $3,354,139, locations NA, one territory, $24,321,180, three weeks.

19. "The Fighter," $3,321,450, 1,942 locations, 19 territories, $102,820,739, 10 weeks.

20. "Gantz," $3,092,464, locations NA, one territory, $25,870,868, three weeks. (AP)

'The Roommate' slips into box office top spot

LOS ANGELES: The low-budget and widely panned horror flick "The Roommate" opened at the top of the North American box office during a sluggish weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The psychological thriller starring Leighton Meester as a deranged college freshman obsessed with her roommate Minka Kelly grossed $15.6 million in its three days, despite receiving poor reviews.

Survey aggregator Rotten Tomatoes said only nine percent of critics gave the film a thumbs-up.

Box office earnings were dented this weekend by the hugely popular Super Bowl American football championship game, due to take place later Sunday.

"Sanctum," which also got trashed by critics -- came in a distant second. The 3-D underwater cave adventure produced by James Cameron of "Avatar" fame secured $9.2 million in ticket receipts.

Dropping into third was "No Strings Attached," a romantic romp starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. The Ivan Reitman film about casual sex between friends took in $8.4 million.

British historical drama "The King's Speech" jumped up one notch to fourth after drawing 12 nominations from the Oscars race. It has earned $84.1 million so far in 11 weeks of showing.

Action movie "The Green Hornet" got fifth with $6.1 million, pulling ahead of Anthony Hopkins exorcism thriller "The Rite." The horror inspired by 1970s classic "The Exorcist" captured $5.6 million.

Dropping to seventh with $5.4 million was "The Mechanic," while the Western "True Grit" came in eighth with $4.8 million.

Oscar-winning brothers Joel and Ethan Coen's remake features Jeff Bridges in the John Wayne role as a drunken, hard-nosed US marshal. The film has earned $155 million in seven weeks.

Vince Vaughn's relationship comedy "The Dilemma," in its fourth week in theaters, slipped from seventh to ninth with $3.4 million.

Rounding out the top 10 was "Black Swan," a gritty ballet-themed thriller starring Natalie Portman which earned $3.4 million, for a 10-week total of $95.9 million.

The film was nominated for five Oscars, including best picture and best performance by an actress for Portman.

China sets $1.5 bln box office record in 2010

BEIJING: China's film industry had a record year in 2010, grossing 10.17 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) at the box office, but domestic movies struggled against Hollywood blockbusters, according to state media.

National box office takings rose 63.9 percent on-year as more Chinese than ever went to the movies, Tong Gang, director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television's State Film Bureau told the China Daily on Saturday.

"Ten billion yuan is just something to feel good about, but not to show off about," Tong was quoted as saying.

"So far, it has not been possible to compete with such films as 'Avatar' and 'Inception'. Far too few domestic films are well received by the public," he added.

Combined, Hollywood's sci-fi fantasy "Avatar" and thriller "Inception" represented about a fifth of China's total box office takings while the highest-grossing domestic film, disaster epic "Aftershock", earned only 673 million yuan.

"China still lacks good films," Tong said.

Beijing officials are increasingly stressing that China needs to expand its cultural industries, which account for less than two percent of the country's gross domestic product.

China made 526 feature films in 2010 -- up 15 percent from 2009 -- making it the third-largest film producer after Bollywood and Hollywood, the China Daily said.

But critics, including "Aftershock" director Feng Xiaogang, one of the country’s most successful commercial directors, say censors at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television often block the kind of originality needed to make great films.

"This is not an era that can produce masters," Feng told Sina.com in an interview last year.

China currently limits the number of foreign films screened in cinemas to 20 a year but in March it is due to address the World Trade Organization's call for it to open up its film market.

Tong declined to comment on what impact that ruling could have on the domestic film industry, the report said.

Tron leads weak pack of newcomers at box office

LOS ANGELES: "Tron: Legacy," a costly 3D sci-fi movie that Walt Disney Co has promoted for more than three years, opened disappointingly at the weekend box office in North America, while a new comedy starring Reese Witherspoon was one of the biggest flops of the year.

The "Tron" movie, a massively hyped sequel to an obscure 1982 movie, earned $43.6 million during its first three days of release, Disney said Sunday. Industry observers had been expecting a three-day start in the $50 million range, although Disney said the opening was within its own expectations.

The effects-laden update reportedly cost $170 million to make, and more than $100 million to market worldwide. Disney never divulges budgets.

Internationally, the film earned a modest $23 million from No. 1 openings in all 26 of its markets, including Japan, Australia, Britain and Brazil. These markets represent about half of the international sales pie.

Meanwhile "How Do You Know" opened at No. 8 with just $7.6 million in the United States and Canada, far short of modest expectations in the $12 million range. The Columbia Pictures project cost about $100 million to make, with half the budget spent on salaries for Witherspoon, co-stars Jack Nicholson, Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd, and writer/director James L. Brooks. Extensive reshoots also drove up costs.

Executives at the Sony Corp unit were despondent about the opening, although the film had suffered bad buzz for some time with no help from a forgettable title.

A third newcomer did not do much better. "Yogi Bear," a live-action/animated update of the old television cartoon, came in at No. 2 with $16.7 million. Distributor Warner Bros. said it had hoped for an opening between $18 million and $20 million, but the Time Warner Inc unit expected the Christmas holiday would boost business. The $80 million film stars Dan Aykroyd as the voice of the title character and Justin Timberlake as his sidekick Boo Boo.

Critics trashed all three films, which vied for the attention of holiday-distracted moviegoers alongside national expansions of acclaimed awards-season contenders Paramount Pictures' "The Fighter" (No. 4, $12.2 million) and Fox Searchlight's "Black Swan" (No. 7, $8.3 million).

Last weekend's champion, 20th Century Fox's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," fell to No. 3 with $12.4 million in its second weekend.

"The Tourist," a widely mocked caper starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, dropped three places to No. 5 with $8.7 million, also in its second weekend. The Columbia release tied with Disney's former chart-topping cartoon "Tangled."

The final weekend before Christmas is traditionally slow, although films often enjoy long runs as school holidays start to take effect. But overall business has been weak for some time, with year-on-year sales down for six weekends in a row.

"A malaise has crept over the marketplace," said Paul Dergarabedian, head box office analyst at Hollywood.com. "The lack of momentum is hurting everybody across the board."

But Disney was bullish about "Tron: Legacy," a project that has occupied the attention of two regimes at the studio in recent years. It has been offering tantalizing glimpses to movie fans at the annual Comic-Con convention since 2008, and raised the heat in recent months with cross-marketing efforts across its theme parks, consumer-products and cable TV wings.

Jeff Bridges returns to "Tron" as a videogame developer trapped in a virtual environment called the Grid. While the original film appealed only to male youngsters, Disney targeted the reboot at men and women of all ages.

But exit polling indicated the film skewed to men aged 18 to 30, with relatively little interest in mainstream multiplexes. Instead, the film's tech-savvy constituency thronged 3D and big-screen theaters. About one-quarter of sales -- $10.3 million -- came from Imax Corp's 234 screens. The film played in almost 3,500 theaters overall.

'Tron' sequel set to hit $40 million at box office

Hollywood is once again overstuffing the Christmas stocking with films of all shapes and sizes, hoping to benefit from the most lucrative and intense stretch of the year at the box office.

Among the four new wide releases, Disney's 3D tentpole "Tron: Legacy" is expected to top the weekend with three-day sales north of $40 million.

Also battling for moviegoers are Warner Bros.' 3D family picture "Yogi Bear," Paramount/Relativity Media's "The Fighter," and Sony's romantic comedy "How Do You Know."

"Tron: Legacy" is tracking well among men of all ages. Disney introduced the $170 million follow-up to the 1982 cult classic to fanboys two years ago. Jeff Bridges returns in the role of Kevin Flynn, while Garrett Hedlund plays his son.

Yogi Bear brings an even more recognizable character to the big screen, at least among older moviegoers who grew up on the popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Warners will be happy if the film breaks $20 million this weekend.

Tracking for "How Do You Know" is on the softer side, indicating an opening of $12 million and possibly lower. The $100 million film stars Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson.

The two wild cards are "The Fighter," which opened in limited release last weekend, and Fox Searchlight's "Black Swan," which makes a major play in expanding from 90 theaters to 959. On Wednesday, "Swan" ups its screen count to 1,426.

Both films are early awards favorites, as is the Weinstein Co.'s "The King's Speech," which expands to 43 locations from 19 Friday. All three picked up significant Golden Globe, Critics' Choice and SAG nominations this week.

'Megamind' tops box offices for second week

Animated comedy 'Megamind' topped film charts for the second week on Sunday, claiming No. 1 at North American box offices with $30 million and beating new releases, including action flick "Unstoppable."

The family-oriented comedy pushed its two-week total to $89.8 million and showed staying power in theaters with a decline of 35 percent from last week's debut of nearly $48 million for its producers at DreamWorks Animation.

The relatively small drop, compared to other major releases that often see ticket sales fall 50 percent or more, has DreamWorks Animation hoping "Megamind" can hold its own against the widely anticipated "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" when it debuts in theaters next weekend.

"We're seeing lots of momentum with kids and especially young boys," DreamWorks Animation global marketing chief Anne Globe said, adding that the company expects "Megamind" to continue performing well in theaters equipped with 3D.

The new "Harry Potter" will not be show in 3D.

In second place over the weekend was runaway train movie "Unstoppable," starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. It pulled in $23.5 million and was the top-grossing new release, pleasing its distributor 20th Century Fox.

The fast-paced thriller generally earned good reviews from both critics and positive response from fans, Fox said, which is rare in theaters these days.

"Unstoppable" debuted in about 3,200 theaters, for an average of $7,300 per location. "Megamind" pulled in $7,600 per venue in approximately 3,900 locations.

In its second week in theaters, Warner Bros. comedy "Due Date," starring Robert Downey Jr., dropped one position to the No. 3 slot on box office charts with $15.5 million, or $4,600 per theater in more than 3300 locations.

Sci-fi thriller "Skyline" was No. 4 with $11.7 million, while romantic comedy "Morning Glory" rounded out the top 5 with $9.6 million, a disappointing opening with major stars like Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton working alongside Rachel McAdams.

Director Tyler Perry's "For Colored Girls" fell to the No. 6 spot with a 65 percent drop in ticket sales to a total $6.8 million. That figure pushed its cumulative box office to just under $31 million in two weeks.

Rounding out the top 10 in descending order were four holdovers from recent weeks, "Red," "Paranormal Activity 2" "Saw 3D" and "Jackass 3D."

"Megamind," "Morning Glory," "Paranormal Activity 2" and "Jackass 3D" were all distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.. "Megamind" was produced by DreamWorks Animation.

"Skyline" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric's NBC Universal media division, and "Unstoppable" by 20th Century Fox is a division of News Corp. "For Colored Girls" and "Saw 3D" were released by Lions Gate, and "Red" by privately held Summit Entertainment.

Box office update: No let up in ‘Endhiran’ craze!

As fans continue to line up to watch Rajinikanth’s latest film Endhiran, the movie is smashing all box office records and writing history.

Making a film with a 60-year-old star and a whopping budget of Rs 160 crore did seem like a big gamble. But director Shankar has silenced all detractors, as the movie Endhiran shows no sign of slowing down at the box office down south.

According to a trade analyst, the Tamil movie (and its Hindi version Robot) has raked in a collection between Rs. 200 to 225 crores in just two weeks since its release on October 1. No other film in the history of Indian cinema has made so much money in just two weeks.

Going by the figures, Endhiran has collected Rs. 150 crores from Tamil Nadu only. Its collection from other south centres is close to Rs. 50 crore. And the earning of Robot (Hindi) stands close to Rs. 15 crore.

That’s not the end of it, as the film is likely to continue its good run in the weeks ahead.

'The Robot' may break box office records

Industry experts have predicted that the Bollywood science-fiction film Enhiran will break box office records due to the huge amount of hype and promotion surrounding its release.

BBC confirms that the film is the most expensive production ever made in India with a budget of 1.6bn rupees, the equivalent to £23 million.

The thriller, directed by S. Shankar, stars Rajinikanth as the scientist Vaseegaran who successfully creates a human robot hybrid and co-star Aishwarya Rai as his girlfriend.

The film's special effects have received universal praise, and it has been well-received by critics.

Enhiran, also known as The Robot, was released worldwide on Friday.

Affleck's heist film tops US box office

The Town, Ben Affleck's fast-paced bank heist flick set in his hometown of Boston debuted as the top movie at North American theaters this weekend, industry estimates showed on Sunday.

Supplanting Resident Evil: Afterlife in the top spot, The Town, the second film to be directed by the actor, earned 23.8 million dollars in ticket sales, according to projections from box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Second place went to another new film, teen comedy Easy A about a high school girl who lies about losing her virginity to improve her social standing, which earned 18.2 million dollars.

M. Night Shyamalan's Devil supernatural thriller about Satan trapping victims in a Philadelphia high-rise came in third, raking 12.6 million dollars in tickets sales.

Resident Evil, the latest in a long-running science fiction series, fell from the top spot last week to fourth with 10.1 million dollars.

Alpha and Omega, about a wolfpack in the wilds of a Canadian nature reserve, opened in fifth place with 9.2 million dollars in tickets sold.

In sixth place was Takers, the bank-robbery thriller starring Hayden Christensen, Idris Elba and singers Chris Brown and T.I. which earned three million dollars.

George Clooney's spy flick The American was seventh with earnings of 2.76 million dollars.

Rounding out the top ten were Inception in eighth place with a shade over two million dollars in ticket sales; crime comedy The Other Guys with two million dollars, and romance flick Eat, Pray, Love which claimed 1.7 million dollars to finish in 10th place.

Resident Evil snatches box office lead

Sony's Resident Evil: Afterlife snatched the top of the North American box office this weekend with 26.7 million dollars in ticket sales, final figures showed recently.

The fourth in a long-running science fiction series, the film stars Milla Jovovich as a new age warrior fighting to protect humans from a world led by zombies.

Resident Evil films are based on a video game of the same name from Japan's Capcom. The latest film was directed by Paul Anderson, who also directed the original 2002 feature.

Jumping one spot into second place was Takers. The bank-robbery thriller starring Hayden Christensen, Idris Elba and singers Chris Brown and T.I. earned 5.7 million dollars in its third week of release, bringing its overall take to 47.7 million dollars, said industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

George Clooney's spy flick The American fell from its top spot to land in third place with earnings of 5.7 million dollars. Mixing violence with a campy tribute to 1970s exploitation movies from directors Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, Machete came in fourth with 4.3 million dollars from Friday to Sunday, or 20.9 million since its release.

Holding steady at number five was new release Going the Distance, a romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long about a couple living on opposite US coasts who try to make their relationship work. It earned 3.8 million dollars in its second weekend.

The Other Guys, the latest Will Ferrell slapstick comedy, climbed up one spot to sixth place, taking in 3.3 million dollars for its story about two mismatched police officers paired on a high-profile crime investigation.

Seventh place went to the gruesome documentary-style horror movie The Last Exorcism, which fell from its fourth spot last weekend, taking 3.3 million dollars, or 38 million since its release.

The mockumentary, directed by Daniel Stamm and co-produced by Eli Roth, a director known for his bloody thrillers, follows a disillusioned minister supposedly filming his last exorcism for a documentary.

Falling to eighth place was The Expendables, Sylvester Stallone's film about a group of weathered mercenaries out to topple a South American dictator, which earned 3.2 million dollars in its fifth week in theaters.

Eat, Pray, Love, Ryan Murphy's adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's novel about a divorcee's jaunt to Italy, Indonesia and India, starring Julia Roberts, took ninth position with 2.9 million dollars.

Rounding out the top 10 was blockbuster Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio as an expert infiltrator of people's dreams, which took in 2.8 million, or 282 million since its release.