Am I dreaming?
Foreign sensation "Mamma Mia!" stayed unstoppable at international multiplexes, racking up its fifth consecutive weekend victory with $14.1 million at 4,406 play dates in 47 markets.
The tuner’s taken in a dazzling $377.2 million and kept overall biz healthy during the early fall — a period when moviegoing tends to soften as studios opt for a combo of summer holdovers and smallish rollouts of new pics.
For example, the frame saw domestic winner "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" put the bite on respectable foreign grosses with $4.8 million at only 810 in five territories for a decent per-location average of $5,926 — best among major launches and mostly from $2.4 million in Australia and $1.8 million in Mexico. Paramount’s comedy "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People," with local fave Simon Pegg toplining, opened day and date in the U.K. in first with a moderate $2.1 million at 449.
"Mamma Mia!" opened in first in Italy with $2.8 million as U noted that it expects strong word of mouth even though Italians are usually not fans of musicals. Holdover biz continued to be exceptions with the U.K. rising 25% to $1.4 million in its 13th week for a Brit cume of $123.3 million while Korean grosses slid 25% in the fifth frame to $1.6 million.
"Mamma!" still has plenty of gas in the tank with eight territories to open, including Japan on Jan. 30. Its stunning performance has left Universal with nearly $1.5 billion this year, trailing only Warner Bros. and Paramount at $1.6 billion — keeping the international biz for the six majors 2% behind last year’s record-setting pace, which finished 2007 at $9.5 billion.
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