Apparently global destruction plays well the world over.
Roland Emmerich’s “2012” opened atop the box office in every foreign market, taking $160 million overseas — the largest foreign debut in history for a non-sequel.
It was the third week in a row atop the overseas box office for Sony, which saw Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” win in foreign markets for two weeks running. The concert-footage documentary slipped to No. 3 with $11.5 million, and has now reaped $155.4 overseas.
"Disney’s A Christmas Carol" finished a distant second to Roland Emmerich’s disaster epic with $16 million in its second weekend. Playing in 21 territories, the Charles Dickens adaptation is expected to follow the long, successful run of “The Polar Express,” another Robert Zemeckis 3D holiday feature that enjoyed a holiday bump after an early November release.
Top markets for the German-born Emmerich’s “2012” were France ($17.2 million from 750 screens), Russia ($15.3 million from 840 locations), Germany (12.4 million from 1,002 situations), China ($12.3 million from 1,946 locales) and the U.K. ($10.8 million from 828 sites).
"Up," rolled out to foreign markets after its domestic run, ranked fourth with $4.9 million, bringing it to an overseas total of $374.5 million.
