“The Hobbit” tops foreign box-office for 2nd straight week

PanARMENIAN.Net - With minimal competition from new holiday releases on limited overseas breaks, New Line/MGM’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey cleaned up on the foreign theatrical circuit for the second consecutive weekend, bagging $91 million at more than 18,600 screens in 59 markets, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Director Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic -- of the first installment of the director’s $500 million trilogy based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel – took a relatively benign dip of 34% from its opening round and has compiled a foreign gross total to date of $284 million.

The Hobbit drew a mighty opening gross in Russia ($16.8 million from 2,129 venues including previews), taking 75% of the weekend market. Distributor Warner Bros. said that in Russia, 65% of the total box office came from 3D venues.

To underscore the growth in recent years of the Russian territory, the distributor noted that the weekend debut paced 313% ahead of the opening Russia gross of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, released in 2003 and the biggest foreign grosser of the LOTR titles.

Third largest single market was the U.K. where the holdover tally was $9.1 million at 1,546 locations for a No. 1 market ranking. Germany contributed $12.6 million at 1,408 sites, also No. 1. France came up with a No. 1 tally of $6.7 million at 690 spots; while Spain drew $4.2 million from 1,010 situations, a dominant No. 1 in the market. (Separately, IMAX said The Hobbit grossed $3.9 million internationally on the weekend.)