Animated Feature Grosses Overseas

And here are how various animated features are performing in foreign lands through September 16. As tallied and reported by Variety:

In Germany, Surf's Up came in at #3 with a $1.1 million take. From Variety:

Coming in No. 10 over the Sept. 14-16 frame was Sony's toon "Surf's Up," which grossed $3.2 million for an overseas cume of $43 million. Pic, one of the summer's few washouts, grossed $58.9 domestically. Its overseas run is largely done, so the worldwide cume of $101.8 million probably won't budge much.

In France, Ratatouille owns the number two position with a $56.6 million cume. In Australia, the ratster perches at #3 with a $5.1 million total. In Spain it's #8 with a $18.6 million cume...

With "Hairspray" coming in No. 5, Disney-Pixar's overseas hit "Ratatouille" came in No. 6, grossing $5.4 million from 3,092 runs...

Shrek the Third is #2 in Italy (behind the Yellow Family) with a total of $24. million...

After "Bourne," "Simpsons" and "Hero," DreamWorks Animation-Paramount's "Shrek the Third" came in No. 4, grossing $5.7 million from 1,445 runs for a cume of $459.3, and including a $938,000 launch in Greece, where it set an opening-day record for an animated pic...

The Simpsons Movie had the #1 slot in Italy ($8 million), the tenth slot in U.K. Ireland ($76.3. million), #8 in Australia with $26.2 million, #6 in France with $29 million...

At the top of the heap for the Sept. 14-16 frame were Universal's "The Bourne Ultimatum" and 20th Century Fox's "The Simpsons Movie"...

It's important to know how the movies people work on perform, since (ultimately) employment is tied to box office performance. An animated feature's economic health -- or sickness -- helps give you a roadmap of what's coming next...