‘Avatar’ Steams Past ‘Titanic’ Record at Foreign Box Office

A $107 million weekend overseas, and still going strong

 “Avatar” surpassed “Titanic” at the foreign box office over the weekend, staying at No. 1 overseas with another $107 million to make it the highest-grossing offshore film in history.

After just six weeks, the James Cameron 3D epic has pulled down $1.288 billion, eclipsing "Titanic’s" record of $1.242 billion, a mark that stood for 13 years.

Top territories have included France ($123.3 million), Germany ($95.7 million), the U.K. ($92.9 million) South Korea ($79.5 million), Japan ($77.7 million), Australia ($77.1 million) and Spain ($76 million).

“Avatar” still has a little ways to go to top “Titanic’s” domestic ($600.8 million) and global ($1.843 billion) box office records, but those figures are sure to fall early this week.

3D venues are a huge part of “Avatar’s” overseas success, accounting for 65 percent of total gross. Still, Americans’ appetite for this film in 3D is unsurpassed, as nearly 80 percent of all domestic receipts were rung up at a 3D theater.

The rest of the weekend’s overseas top five also remained largely unchanged. No. 2 was “Sherlock Holmes” with $17.1 million; “Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel” stayed at number three with $11.6 million. "Up in the Air” climbed to No. 4 with $11 million, and fifth was "It’s Complicated," which took in $10.5 million.

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