Less than three weeks after ’Avatar’ hit theaters, the high-tech science fiction epic is already the most successful movie ever in Russia, with $55.5 million in box-office receipts. In France, the movie has raked in $85.6 million -- more money than in any country besides the U.S -- while Germans have bought $56.1 million worth of ’Avatar’ tickets. The movie’s resonance with audiences abroad is a crucial propellant behind ’Avatar’s’ ascent to the box-office stratosphere, where it topped the $1 billion mark in ticket sales this past weekend. Two thirds of the total box-office receipts so far have been generated abroad. ’Avatar’ sold $352.1 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada after 17 days, while its international haul stood at $670.2 million as of the weekend, according to Hollywood.com. Foreign audiences routinely flock to Hollywood ’event’ movies like the ’Harry Potter’ series, ’The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and the ’Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise. Those films also took in about two-thirds of their revenue overseas -- underscoring the growing importance of foreign audiences for American studios that have seen their revenue from DVD sales dwindle.
