Animation's Foreign Derby

Hard as it might be for some to believe, the small blue people are behaving like the tall blue people:

... The Smurfs has now finished No. 1 on the foreign theatrical circuit for the last six consecutive weekends ... lifting its total offshore box office haul to $344.5 million accumulated since July 27. ...

Adding in the domestic take, The Smurfs has now raked in close to half a billion dollars, much (I'm sure) to Sony's amazed delight.

Elsewhere on the animated front:

... The Lion King's foreign re-release eked $700,000 out of 17 offshore markets ... Rise of the Planet of the Apes ... pushed its foreign gross total to $221.2 million after a $7.8 million weekend ... Pixar/Disney’s Cars 2, $360.4 million versus $189.7 million domestic ... DreamWorks Animation/Paramount’s Kung Fu Panda 2, $494 million ...

Worldwide, KFP2 has now collected more than $659 million, which no doubt still counts as a disappointment in the fever dreams of the trade and mainstream press.