Animation Beyond Our Shores

Let's step away from U.S. box office for a moment, and peer at the rest of the world. The Hollywood Reporter informs us that:

"Tangled" ... opened No. 2 in the U.S. and Cnada, and scampered to $13.8 million from 2,025 screens in seven markets in its first multi-market break overseas ... [The feature] finished No. 1 in six of the territories played ...

"Despicable Me" generated $3 million from some 3,200 venues in 44 markets. Overseas gross total stands at $284.4 million. ... Other international cumes: DreamWorks Animation/Paramount's Megamind, $32.6 million ...

The continuing theme: High-end, high profile animation does exceedingly well at world box offices, no matter who makes it. And there seems to be no ceiling. As Despicable Me's Chris Meledandri says:

... The marketplace just keeps expanding for these movies. Going back to your question about competition, there's room in the marketplace for all these movies because as long as these movies are really good and satisfying to the audience, it expands. The perception that one company's success was going to mean that another company was suffering -- that been disspelled.