Animation's Overseas B.O.

And it's not too smelly at all... Per VARIETY (from an article mostly hidden behind a subscription): "Over the Hedge" now has a foreign cume of $63.4 million. "Hedge" finished first in Germany ($4.3 million) and first in France ($2.5 million) Second in the U.K and Ireland (its second week -- dipping a mere 4%). The film is in third place in Australia ($8,659,000). "Cars" is #2 in Japan and France (2nd and 4th weeks, respectively), and opened #1 in Spain. It's accumulated $11.7 million in Australia after five weeks, and now holds down the fifth position. "Pirates of the Caribbean, Part 2", of course, has cut a wide swashbuckle in every territory in which it's opened, even with lacklustre reviews (VARIETY editor Peter Bart writes in today's rag): Memo to: Jerry Bruckheimer ...Your latest film is obliterating the record books, Jerry, but I've got to ask: Why didn't you knock an extra 30 minutes out of your big fat pirate movie?... I have one theory: "Pirates" is another example of a studio basically shooting a release date. That is, a date is determined before production even starts, and it's left to the producer and director to figure how to get it done. That syndrome has always proved poisonous, Jerry. I've heard your film was delayed by storms, cast illnesses and other problems, and that you ended up with a 12-week post-production schedule. The task of pulling together an "effects" picture with a convuluted plot in that short a timespan is nightmarish. So I guess the good news is that you hit your date, Jerry. The bad news is that your film is kind of a mess...