The Foreign Derby in Early December

The vampires shrink while the kitty expands.

Broadening its foreign run by openings in 13 new territories, Puss In Boots elevated its weekend gross to $23 million derived from a total of 2,740 venues in 26 markets. It finished No. 2 on the weekend.

... Third on the weekend was Happy Feet Two ... Weekend take registered $16.3 million ... No. 5 was Sony Animation’s Arthur Christmas opened in at least a dozen new markets, generating $11.4 million on the weekend overall from 5,720 situations in 52 markets. ... [The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn] has grossed a total of $221.6 million since it opened offshore on Oct. 26. ...

[Other entries:] Real Steel lifted its foreign gross total to $176.4 million thanks to a $5.3 million weekend ... Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, $306.1 million; ... Disney’s The Lion King 3D, $68.8 million. ...

As previously noted, there are more animated features of various types earning heavy coin than at any time in history. Most are c.g., but even reconfigured hand-drawn features are doing business.

Disney is, naturally enough, looking to convert more of its animated catalogue into dimensional cinema. Whether this is a good idea aesthetically, we'll leave for others to debate. If it helps put people in jobs, we count it a good thing. The only fly in the ointment is that the Mouse could be weighing the idea of doing some of the conversion in India.