Hobbit huge again, Bond becomes billionaire. Overseas business was booming on the final weekend of 2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey remained in first place by a large margin, though Life of Pi and Les Miserables also put up strong numbers. Meanwhile, Skyfall became the 14th movie ever to reach $1 billion worldwide, and that’s before it even opens in China.
The Hobbit grossed an estimated $106.5 million from 62 territories this weekend. Its biggest market was Australia, where it debuted to a massive $18.6 million. That’s ahead of all three Lord of the Rings movies by a significant margin.
Thanks to a holiday boost, The Hobbit’s holdover territories dropped just 12 percent on average (about on par with its domestic dip). It remained in first place in Germany (up 16 percent to $16.7 million), the U.K. (up 12 percent to $10.9 million) and France (up 23 percent to $8.6 million). So far, The Hobbit has earned $464 million overseas and $686.7 million worldwide; while it would seem like $1 billion is a foregone conclusion now, it remains to be seen how it holds up coming out of the holiday season.
Playing in 55 markets, Life of Pi had its highest-grossing week yet with $40 million. In Germany, it opened in second place behind The Hobbit with a very good $7.4 million. It also improved to $6.7 million in the U.K. and $4.06 million in France. Finally, it more than doubled its opening weekend in Italy with $2.4 million. Ang Lee’s adaptation of the classic novel has already grossed over $219 million overseas, and a final total well north of $300 million is a guarantee.
After opening in Japan last weekend, Les Miserables expanded in to a few other major markets this weekend and earned a hefty $38.6 million. Its biggest market, by far, was South Korea, where it grossed $20.1 million through its first six days. It’s already Universal’s biggest movie of the year there, and will likely wind up being one of their biggest movies ever. Meanwhile, it grossed a very strong $8.3 million in Australia, and also added $3 million in Japan. At this very early point in its run, Les Miserables has already earned $49 million overseas; it’s set to expand in to the rest of the world in early 2013, and will reach the U.K. on Jan. 11.
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