Madagascar Holds Overseas Lead

Monday, January 12, 2009
By: Ryan Ball

DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa dominated the overseas box office for the fourth consecutive week. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel brought in an estimated $15.8 million in 61 markets over the weekend to bring its foreign gross to roughly $366 million. A domestic draw of $177.4 million brings the film’s worldwide total to approximately $518.6 million. That puts it close to WALL•E’s $522.7 million, but still short of Kung Fu Panda’s $632 million.

Escape 2 Africa’s foreign performance was boosted by a $2 million four-day opening in Korea, where it played in 390 theaters. Poland, Germany, Italy and the U.K. were also kind to the pic, which has yet to open in Japan. The toon is expected to do big business in the land of the rising sun when it opens on March 14. Disney/Pixar’s WALL•E has been No. 1 there for the last four weeks.

Disney’s Bolt still has many markets to hit in its international rollout. The animated action-comedy played in 29 territories over the weekend and earned around $4.4 million from 2,067 theaters. To date, the movie has made an estimated $74 million overseas and $185.8 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Universal's The Tale of Despereaux added an estimated $1.7 million from 20 territories, bringing its worldwide take to roughly $60 million.

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