The Later July Foreign Derby

The animation, it continues to do real good beyond the seas.

Returning to the foreign theatrical circuit's No. 1 boxoffice perch after three stanzas of also-ran status, Pixar/Disney's "Toy Story 3" drew $62 million on the weekend from 3,897 screens in 43 markets, pushing its overseas gross total to $351 million. ...

"Toy Story 3's" foreign cume qualifies the title as Disney's sixth biggest-grossing animation title ever offshore. Worldwide gross total, $730.5 million, makes it the seventh biggest-grossing animation title of all time from any distributor. Openings in German-speaking European territories, plus Portugal, are on tap this week.

Finishing No. 3 on the weekend (down from No. 1 last round) and helping to push Paramount's 2010 foreign boxoffice to about $1.25 billion currently was DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek Forever After" in 3D, which continues to generate substantial business in its graduated overseas rollout. ...

Universal's "Despicable Me" opened nicely in Taiwan (estimated $500,000 from 54 sites for a per-screen average of $9,259) and garnered $3.2 million overall on the weekend from 597 spots in nine markets. The family oriented, 3D animation title featuring the voice of Steve Carell has grossed $17.4 million overseas so far. ...

The Reporter headlines TS3'S big success, but it's good to remember that Shrek Forever After, the "disappointment" of the ogre's franchise, has now put $596 million on the big scoreboard. While it's domestic total of $235 million has topped out, the overseas grosses continue to roll in.

And Despicable Me now has a worldwide total of $179.1 million.

So all in all, the cartoon business is being quite lucrative for our fine, multi-national conglomerates. (Cameron Diaz has been doing better with her voice and an ogre than with her whole self and Tom Cruise.)