"Sarah" leads slow foreign box office

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By Hy Hollinger

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The raunchy comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" grabbed top honours at the foreign box office last weekend, earning a modest $7 million from nine territories, according to final data issued Monday.

The top five films tallied $29.5 million (14.85 million pounds), one of the lowest sums of the year, but the industry is gearing up for the release of "Iron Man" in 55 markets Tuesday through Sunday. the superhero saga opens on Friday in North America.

In subsequent weeks, "Speed Racer," "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" will crowd movie theatres.

"Sarah," meanwhile, hit the peak in the U.K. with $4.3 million, and it held the top rung in Australia for a second weekend. It also opened at No. 1 in Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Last weekend’s foreign champ, the gambling caper, "21," came in second with $6.1 million from 28 markets to lift its international total to $30.7 million.

"Street Kings" moved up a notch to third place with $6 million from 45 markets, reaching a total of $19.8 million. The long-running family favourite "Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!" took fourth place, hoisting its foreign gross to $126.3 .....continued below

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"Fool’s Gold" rounded out the top tier with $5 million from 41 markets to raise its total to $26.5 million.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter