Tiny blue creatures and giant robots dominated the international box office over the weekend.
Sony’s 3D animated sequel “The Smurfs 2” brought in $34.6 million from 66 markets in its second weekend and Guillermo del Toro‘s “Pacific Rim” tallied $33 million from 62 markets.
A very strong second weekend in China drove Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros.’ “Pacific Rim.” It brought in $21.7 million, which ups it total there to $76.4 million after 12 days, and makes it the studio’s high-grossing ever in that country.
“Pacific Rim” has grossed $247 million overseas. It’s approaching $100 million in the U.S. and has pushed its global total to nearly $345 million.
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It brought in a soft $3 million in Japan and couldn’t top “World War Z” there. Brad Pitt‘s zombie epic debuted with $3.5 million and passed the $500 million mark worldwide in the process. It also became Pitt's biggest box-office hit ever, ahead of the $497 million "Troy" ran up in 2004.
Overall, “World War Z” brought in $7.4 million from 48 markets this weekend to lift its global haul to $502 million, with more than $305 million of that coming from overseas.
“The Smurfs 2” has now brought in $110 million internationally and $156 million worldwide.
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Strong holdovers in Europe were a big part of its strong showing. France was off just 20 percent from its opening weekend, adding $3.2 million and pushing the total from that country to $8.6 million. Germany was off just 7 percent and brought in $3 million to up the total there to $8.6 million, and the U.K. fell 36 percent as it took in $1.7 million and upped its total to nearly $10 million.
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Fox’s superhero sequel “The Wolverine” was third internationally for the weekend and heading for $200 million abroad. It added $18 million from 67 markets to raise its foreign total to $197 million and its global total is at $308 million.
The studio’s “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” debuted with $9.8 million from seven markets, led by the U.K. ($3.3 million) and Mexico ($2.7 million), both better numbers than those of the original “Percy Jackson” movie in 2010.