Foreign Box Office: 'Hobbit' Remains No. 1 Overseas; Approaching Half-Billion Mark

The foreign theatrical circuit ended 2012 with a box office bang as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey commanded the No. 1 spot with a weekend gross of $106.5 million at some 16,600 screens in 62 markets, raising the film’s overseas gross total to $464 million.

Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic -- the first installment of the director’s $500 million trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel – took a relatively benign dip of 12 percent from its second round in holdover markets, and has perched No. 1 offshore for three consecutive stanzas.

An Australia debut generated an amazing $18.6 million from 560, and all but took over the market.  The biggest holdover market is Germany where The Hobbit has registered a market total of $60 million. 

New to the foreign circuit was Twentieth Century Fox’s release of Walden Media-Chernin Entertainment’s Parental Guidance, which opened in seven markets to a bracing $7 million at 1,491 locations.  The comedy costarring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler premiered best in Australia ($2.8 million at 234 sites) and in the U.K. ($2.1 million at 440). This week will bring 17 new market openings.

STORY: Holiday Box Office: 'Hobbit' No. 1 With $32.9 Mil

Meanwhile, it appears certain that the major Hollywood studios – Fox, Disney, Universal, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros. – have broken their recent string of consecutive yearly box office records set on the foreign theatrical circuit. Preliminary figures from each company put the studios’ collective 2012 taking at $13.485 billion, less than the $13.6 billion box office record set in 2011.

Fox, which leads the six companies, scored a 21 percent jump in yearly foreign box office with a total of $2.725 billion registered this year versus $2.160 billion in all of 2011. The top title by far was the computer-animation Ice Age Continental Drift, which scored an amazing $718.1 million on foreign box office.  Following from a distance were Titanic 3D ($291.9 million) and Promethueus ($277.6 million).

Warner Bros. came in second with $2.670 billion for the year, down seven percent from last year and nine percent from the company’s foreign box office record of $2.930 billion set in 2010. The top two titles are The Dark Knight Rises, which grossed $634 million offshore, and The Hobbit. 

This year, Sony set a foreign box office record for the company, coming in with a total of $2.660 billion overseas – a 45 percent increase over the company’s 2011 total of $1.830 billion. Sony’s previous best was 2009 when it took in 2.142 billion in overseas box office. 

The latest James Bond sequel, Skyfall, was the big driver, grossing $622.8 million in Sony-handled offshore markets ($710.6 million overall including those markets handled by co-distributor MGM), the highest-grossing title ever released by Sony overseas. This year, the company also distributed The Amazing Spider-Man (grossing $491.9 million offshore) and Men In Black 3 ($445.7 million).

STORY: 'Skyfall' Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide

Having its ups and down in 2012 was Disney, which recorded $2.080 billion in foreign box office, down 6 percent from 2011.  The highlight, of course, was Marvel’s The Avengers, which tallied a huge $892.4 million in overseas earnings. The flip side was John Carter, which pulled a disappointing offshore tally of $208.2 million.

Despite one or two high profile disappointments, Universal logged a record year overseas, taking in $1.788 billion in foreign box office -- 41 percent higher than 2011 and 4 percent bigger than the company’s previous record of $1.716 billion set in 2008. Universal had six titles grossing over $100 million offshore including Ted ($284.3 million) and Snow White and the Huntsman ($245.3 million).

With a contracted overseas release schedule, Paramount took a 51 percent tumble from 2011, grossing $1.562 billion offshore this year. It should be noted that last year set a foreign record for the company ($3.198 billion in offshore box office). The top earner this time was DreamWorks’ Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, which collected $525.5 million offshore.

And the biggest indie by far was Lionsgate, which collected $1.243 billion in foreign box office – up 280 percent from 2011 – on the strength of Twilight Saga:Breaking Dawn Part 2 (which drew $520.2 million offshore) and The Hunger Games ($284.8 million).

Returning to weekend action, Fox’s Life of Pi continues strongly on the foreign circuit, drawing $39.2 million on the weekend from 8,394 spots in 56 territories, raising director Ang Lee’s film to a cume of $220 million, of which $90.8 million came from China. 

A Germany opening was particularly strong, drawing $7.1 million from 704 sites, and a second U.K. round drew $6.6 million from 1,015 venues for a market cume of $17 million. Life of Pi opens in nine markets this week including Australia, Russia and South Korea. 

Registering record market openings for a musical in South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia, Universal’s Les Miserables costarring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Ann Hathaway drew a weekend total of $38.3 million from a total of 1,698 venues in eight markets, lifting its early offshore cume to $48.7 million.

The No. 1 Korea tally was a muscular $20.1 million over six days at 599 sites. In Hong Kong, the opening gross was $1.6 million including previews at just 31 playdates. In Australia, where the musical update opened on Boxing Day (Dec. 26), the opening launch delivered $8.3 million including previews over five days at 241 locations. Les Mis’ International rollout continues Jan. 11 with a U.K. opening.

Opening in 25 markets including the U.K. and France, Paramount’s latest Tom Cruise action title, Jack Reacher, came up with $18.1 million from a total of 2,195 locations in 32 countries.  Early overseas cume stands at $22.5 million.

The No. 3 bow in the U.K. generated $5.5 million at 445 locations over five days. In France, the No. 2 debut delivered $4.4 million at 480 spots. Reacher opens this week at 17 markets including Australia, Germany, Italy and Mexico.    

DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians collected $11.6 million in its seventh round overseas from 5,151 locations in 59 markets. The Paramount release, a $145 million fantasy title featuring the voices of Alec Baldwin and Hugh Jackman, lifted its foreign gross to $165.2 million. 

Sony/MGM’s Skyfall, the 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise, grossed $10.3 million from 3,225 sites in 60 markets handled by Sony and licensees of co-distributor MGM. In the U.K., where Skyfall has been gangbusters, the film became over the weekend the first movie ever to break the 100-pound sterling mark at the local box office. U.K. cume stands at $161.6 million.

Universal’s rom/com-musical Pitch Perfect grossed $6.2 million from 1,250 locations in 15 markets. The film’s early international gross total stands at $28.7 million.

Weekend box office action in France was generally heated. The top local language title remained Mars Distribution’s De L’autre Cote De Periph starring Omar Sy. The police caper about two mismatched cops assigned to a murder case drew $5.6 million from some 480 screens – up some 40 percent from its opening session last round -- sufficient for a No.2 market ranking. Market cume stands at $10 million. (The Weinstein Co. has domestic distribution rights.) 

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2012: A Year of Controversy for Italian Film Festivals

Venice's jury wanted to give 'The Master' even more awards

ROME – From an award switcheroo involving Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master in Venice to shouts of “Shame! Shame!” over an award at Rome’s final ceremony and director Ken Loach’s high-profile snub of the Turin festival, 2012 will go down as a year of controversy at Italy’s most visible cinema events.

There was more: Marco Bellocchio, whose critically acclaimed euthanasia drama Bella Adormentata (Dormant Beauty) left Venice empty handed, accused the festival of under-evaluating domestic productions, and he vowed to never bring another film to the August festival. And Matteo Garone, a two-time Cannes jury prize winner, who was on the Venice jury this year, said after the controversy he would never serve on an Italian festival jury again.

In Rome, first-year artistic director Marco Mueller drew fire when he lobbied hard to move the seven-year-old event from October to November, encroaching on the spot on the calendar usually reserved for Turin. And later, he was criticized for the festival’s lack of star power - Sylvester Stallone and James Franco were the biggest names to make more than just a cameo at the event - and for its moribund ticket sales, down by at least 15 percent compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, in Turin, Alberto Barbera was criticized for his dual role as the director of Italy’s National Film Museum, the Turin festival’s parent organization, and as the artistic director in Venice, where he replaced Mueller. Turin also had its own issues with settling on an artistic director to replace Gianni Amelio, after odds-on favorite Gabriele Salvatores, the director behind 1992 Oscar winner Mediterraneo, withdrew his name from consideration. The festival eventually appointed comedic director Paolo Virzi to the position.

Add to that the near-death experience of Sicily’s 58-year-old Taormina Film Festival after serious budget issues (new artistic director Mario Sesti had just 45 days to pull together a scaled-down non-competitive version of the event), and the country-wide shuffle among festival directors (Venice’s Barbera, who was appointed almost exactly a year ago, is now the longest-serving artistic director among the country’s four most high-profile competitive festivals), and many in the industry will not be sad to see 2012 come to a close.

“I don’t remember a year when so much attention was paid to problems at the various film festivals,” said Il Messaggero journalist Gloria Satta, who has been writing about Italy’s film industry for 37 years. “But it’s a shame that by paying so much attention to the festivals people talked so little about the films.”

Well, they talked about at least some of the films: the fate of The Master is probably the biggest of the controversies. The Venice jury, headed by Michael Mann, wanted to give the film the Golden Lion award for best film. But since the film was already given the prizes for best director and two for best actor (split between co-protagonists Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman), festival rules prohibited honoring it with the Golden Lion award as well. That honor eventually went instead to Ki-duk Kim’s celebrated Pieta.

In Rome, the biggest controversy came from E la chiamano estate (And They Call it Summer), which earned the best director prize for Paolo Franchi and the best actress award for female lead Isabella Ferrari. The film, which was co-produced by Nicoletta Mantovani, the widow of opera icon Luciano Pavarotti, earned angry whistles and boos during at least one of its festival screenings. When Ferrari’s acting award was announced, it prompted loud shouts of “Vergogna! Vergogna!” (“Shame! Shame!”) from the crowd. There were also charges that the festival handed out prizes to films funded by entities that gave the festival financial support.

Loach’s snub of the Turin festival was also big news in Italy. Loach declined to attend the festival to receive the Gran Premio Torino lifetime achievement prize in protest of alleged abuse of workers at the National Film Museum.

The move sparked criticism from festival and museum organizers, Ettore Scola (the other Gran Premio Torino honoree), and even the city of Turin, which announced it was looking into suing Loach to recoup damages. But damages might be hard to prove: Turin was the only one among Italy’s largest festivals this year to report an increase in ticket sales.

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'Skyfall' Becomes First Film to Cross £100 Million Mark at U.K. Box Office

LONDON – Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, has crossed the £100 million ($161.5 million) mark at the U.K. box office, the first film ever to do so.

Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment trumpeted the movie's success on Monday. The 23rd installment of the Bond franchise has now taken $162.76 million ( £100.46 million) at the U.K. box office.

The tally means the Bond film is now the most successful U.K. release in history, overtaking Avatar, which had a lifetime gross of $151.3 million (£94 million) over the course of its 11 months in release in U.K. cinemas.

Skyfall opened in 587 cinemas across the U.K. and Ireland on Oct. 26. The movie has generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide.

In the movie, Craig returns for his third outing as Ian Fleming’s 007 to find his loyalty to M tested as her past comes back to haunt her.

The film is from Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Directed by Sam Mendes, Skyfall is written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan.

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Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow Spill Secrets From Roommate Days (Video)

Before their films were making millions at the box office, Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow were roommates sharing a $900 per month apartment in the Valley. The old friends sat down with Anderson Cooper and CBS’ 60 Minutes Overtime to share memories from their early forays into comedy and why Sandler eventually moved out.

“Back then, life was just doing stand-up or writing jokes. You would sleep until noon every day and kind of stumble out,” Apatow said. “You would have to be at work at 8:30 at night. Work was sometimes 15 minutes.”

Sandler slept on a mattress with no sheets – and occasionally shared it with one of their friends.

THR COVER: The Angsty Existence of Judd Apatow

“Adam always had a rental car. He never bought a car for literally 12 years,” Apatow said. As Apatow recalls it, Sandler’s cars would be filled to the brim with trash and McDonalds bags. 

But Sandler said they didn’t consider themselves broke.

“It wasn’t broke. We were doing as comedians good enough to get by,” Sandler said. “We could eat at Red Lobster once every month. That was a big night out.”

“That was like, ‘We’re fancy now,’” Apatow added.

But living together wasn't without its drama. They got into tiffs over who was better looking, (Sandler, to Apatow’s dismay, had a reputation for being more handsome) and there were issues with Apatow using Sandler's bathroom.

PHOTOS: Six Degrees of Judd Apatow

When Sandler moved to New York to join Saturday Night Live, he continued to pay rent, because he thought he was going to “get fired” every week and might have to move back to Los Angeles.

“He just left, like he was going to come back, but he just didn’t come back,” Apatow said.

Apatow’s latest film, This is 40 is currently in theaters. Sandler’s Grown Ups 2 is scheduled for a summer 2013 release. 

Email: aaron.couch@thr.com

Twitter: @AaronCouch

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Jack Klugman's Widow Turns Planned Holiday Party Into Memorial

Surrounded by friends and family, Peggy Klugman -- the widow of late actor Jack Klugman (who died Dec. 24 at age 90 most likely of natural causes) -- held an informal celebration of his life at the couple's house in Woodlands Hills, Calif, on Saturday, Dec. 29. One guest, entertainment journalist Jeanne Wolf (jeannewolfshollywood.com) talks about how his friends remembered him last night and her longtime friendship with the actor:

Jack Klugman was at his memorial party held this Saturday night, just not the guest anyone expected. His presence was felt by all. The Klugman’s annual holiday party, "Mingle and Jingle," at their spacious Woodland Hills home had been planned for some time. When Jack unexpectedly died a few days before the event, his wife Peggy made the right decision, "We're going to celebrate Jack! So the party is still on."

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In a room full of large posters of Klugman's films and some amusing mementos, Peggy showed friends that an urn with Jack's ashes had arrived in the middle of the day. "He decided to show up after all," she smiled. "He came early." One pal piped up, "Hey, at least some of those ashes belong at the race track." You know that Klugman would have delivered that line perfectly. You also know that he would have laughed.

Loved ones were gathered and there were tears, of course, but even more stories and laughter as tapes of Klugman's TV shows played around the house. Guests enjoyed Jack's favorite chili and favorite candies. There were many toasts and memories.

Jack starred on stage and TV for the world. For me, personally, he was a star in my life. We first met when he came to Burt Reynold's theater in Florida to act in one of his pal's plays.

I can't count the times we had dinner, or I went to see him perform. In the mid-eighties when throat cancer began to really affect him, the tabloids blasted rumors that he was dying. Entertainment Tonight called him and he insisted, "I'll only tell this story to Jeanne Wolf." What a responsibility! As he sought medical help to improve his voice, I wrote for TV Guide about his battle to regain his speech.

STORY: 'Odd Couple,' 'Quincy' Star Jack Klugman Dies at 90

I’ll never forget Jack telling me, "I wasn't afraid that I’d die. I was just terrified that I wouldn't be able to act again."

No wonder I always thought of him as the grouchy optimist. One of the highlights of our friendship was attending his wedding to Peggy in 2008. He was eighty five years old and just beaming. Friends like Garry Marshall and John Stamos came to tease him and to toast him.

He went back to TV and to the stage with his great friend Tony Randall. Troubles with his voice continued but the audiences applauded so he kept doing his comic thing.

At one point in vocal therapy he told me, "Now I have the voice of a sixteen year old. I’m looking for a doctor who could give me the body of a sixteen year old."

Broadway dimmed its lights in a tribute to Klugman. I'm sad he's gone but seeing just a few minutes of him on screen and I was laughing out loud again. And his memory lingers in his house blazing with holiday lights which weren't dimmed but maybe burned a little brighter this weekend.

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'Cloud Atlas' Star Promotes Film in South Korea Via Mobile App

SEOUL – Actress Bae Doo-na talked about Cloud Atlas in her home country through a mobile Internet application, perhaps the smartest way to spread the word about the sci-fi film given that 60 percent – or 30 out of 50 million – of mobile phones used in South Korea are smartphones.

Movie promotions in the country have quickly evolved with the proliferation of digital technology, and it’s not uncommon for press conferences to be streamed live online, as it was when Hugh Jackman and Cameron Mackintosh visited for Les Miserables, or when local fans had a real-time international video conference with Daniel Craig about Skyfall earlier this year.

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Smartphones are also fast becoming the major tool for accessing the Internet in the most wired country on the planet. In 2012, the number of mobile Internet users in Korea rose 17 percent to exceed 23.8 million, whereas those connecting to the Web through a personal computer increased by just four percent.

Bae chatted Friday evening about the movie with five fans, chosen through a drawing prior to the event, on the mobile messenger service My People. The chat, which was intended to last 30 minutes, was extended an extra half-hour as the conversation continued, according to organizers.

The event created buzz online, as the conversation was revealed live through the local portal site Daum. Cloud Atlas shot up to fourth place among the most researched items in real-time in the country (according to ranking by Korea’s largest portal, Naver).

PHOTOS: 'Cloud Atlas' Premiere: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Keanu Reeves Hit Red Carpet

Bae emphasized that the film is “a piece of work that marks a milestone in cinema history.” She said she was “excited to hear the names of her co-stars,” Hollywood A-listers such as Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, when she was cast. The 33-year-old expressed much affection for the film’s “amazing” special makeup effects team, which enabled her to play three different characters. She said she felt the most fondness for Sonmi-451, a role she assumed during about 95 percent of her time with the film’s production.

“Thinking about the connection between the different characters a given actor plays will add to the fun of watching the movie,” Bae told fans during the chat. “You’ll be able to piece the puzzle together if you allow yourself to get immersed in the story.”

Cloud Atlas opens in Korean theaters via NEW on Jan. 9.

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Adam Lambert Slams 'Les Miserables' in Twitter Review

Many thousands of moviegoers and musical theater enthusiasts lined up to see the big screen version of Les Miserables over the holiday break. Among those in the audience: American Idol alum and stage veteran Adam Lambert, who took issue with the film's vocal performances and let his opinion be known via Twitter.

"Les Mis: Visually impressive w great Emotional performances. But the score suffered massively with great actors PRETENDING to be singers," the season eight runner-up tweeted. "It's an opera. Hollywood's movie musicals treat the singing as the last priority."

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Although Lambert stopped short of calling out which actors, in his opinion, sunk the film with "distracting" vocals, he was quick to point out that Anne Hathaway's portrayal as Fantine, particularly her solo on "I Dreamed a Dream," earned his respect.

"DO go see it for Anne Hathaways performance. It's was breathtaking," he said.

Lambert also praised Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron Cohen (who play the Thenardiers), Aaron Tveit (Enjolras) and Samantha Barks (Eponine) for their vocals and performances.

PHOTOS: 'Les Miserables': Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman Pose for THR

The singer, fresh off hosting VH1 Divas 2012 on Dec. 16, apologized for his negative tone, but explained that he grew up with the musical and had high expecations for the film.

"I do think it was cool they were singing live - but with that cast, they should have studio recorded and sweetened the vocals," he continued. "The industry will say 'these actors were so brave to attempt singing this score live' but why not cast actors who could actually sound good?"

Actress Evan Rachel Wood later chimed in on the debate, tweeting: “We sang live in 'across the universe' #justsaying.” To that, replied Lambert (who also noted that Dreamgirls was an exception to the rule): "And that sounded Good!!! Ok yes, that’s another movie musical exception. That movie was on point. And U were stunning in it.”

What do you think, Worshippers? Did you see the movie this week? Do you agree with Adam? Leave your reviews in the comments below.

Twitter: @MicheleAmabile

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