The Foreign Steeplechase

And as Shrek IV once again tops stateside charts, the horse race abroad spins a different tale:

Hot-blooded openings in 32 markets, including first-place showings in France and Australia, propelled Warner Bros./New Line's "Sex and the City 2" to the No. 1 spot on the foreign circuit on the weekend. ...

No. 4 is DreamWorks Animation's Shrek Forever After" in 3D, which claimed $8.8 million from 1,986 sites in 19 territories. International cume stands at $68.4 million. The latest animation of the Shrek series drew $4.5 million from 860 spots in its third Russian round, for a market cume of $46.1 million. Paramount is releasing overseas.

Fifth was another title from DreamWorks Animation, "How to Train Your Dragon," which hoisted its overseas gross total to $253.3 million thanks to a $3.8 million weekend at 3,548 situations in 62 territories. In its third Korea round, the Paramount release drew $2.2 million from 524 spots for a market cume of $16.2 million.

Dragon is now hovering in the "$500 million worldwide gross" region. I expect that Shrek IV-- assuming that its domestic haul will be 75-80% as large as the foreign take -- will come in at $600-$650 million worldwide.

Guess we'll see.