Although Mission: Impossible 3 had a weaker opening than its predecessor in the United States, it had the biggest opening of the franchise in the international market, earning $70.3 million USD from 7,390 locations in 57 markets, according to Hollywoord Reporter.
This result comes as quite a surprise, it seems, and more or less guarantees that the film will be a successful earner, as it has not yet opened in India, China, or Japan. I know that I contributed to M: I 3's impressive performance last weekend, but I am also surprised at this result, since the theatre I went to was mostly empty.
M: I 3 dethroned champion Ice Age 2 for the number one position of the international box office. The latter film has until now earned an extremely impressive total of $407.9 million USD internationally.
Hollywood sequels fill up the top three positions as Scary Movie 4 achieved $4 million USD in sales this past weekend, making a total of $56.1 million USD in international earnings.
Aggressive and effective marketing strategies have pushed Hollywood films to the forefront of the international market, and in Europe they have come up with some plan to help keep European films from drowning in the presence of the American giants.
From Hollywood Reporter:
"An initiative to showcase European films on 100 screens will involve cinemas in four European capitals, it was announced Tuesday.
Rome, Madrid, Paris and Brussels have each reserved 25 screens to show movies from each of the European Union member states."
