INTERNATIONAL
Universal's international division reported that American Pie 2 enjoyed a strong first place launch in Korea this weekend with $0.3 million at 60 screens its first two days. The studio said that was 148 percent bigger than the total for the entire Korean run of the original American Pie.
In the U.K., Pie 2 placed ninth in its eighth week with $0.1 million at 90 screens, bringing its cume there to $25.9 million.
Pie 2's international cume to date is a terrific $106 million with 11 countries still to open, including Australia and Spain next weekend.
Universal said its international cume for The Fast and the Furious is $59 million with three countries still to open. The studio also reported that Bridget Jones's Diary's international cume hit an impressive $203 million this weekend.
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
Key films -- those grossing more than $500,000 -- took in approximately $86.83 million, up about 3.23 per cent from the comparable weekend last year when key films grossed $84.12 million.
This weekend's key film gross was down about 42.7 percent from the $151.54 million Friday-Sunday portion of this year's Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Last year, Universal's third week of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas was first with $27.1 million at 3,138 theaters ($8,635 per theater); and Buena Vista's second week of Unbreakable was second with $14.44 million at 2,708 theaters ($5,333 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $41.5 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $43.3 million.