Gobbling up the competition, HANNIBAL dined atop the box office charts in a host of new countries. In France, the cannibalistic cavalcade collected an impressive US$6.23 million in its debut. VERTICAL LIMIT climbed into fifth with a gross of $1.46 million, lifting its French cume to $4.35 million. In sixth, 102 DALMATIANS collared another $1.38 million, raising its French cume to $13.51 million. In Mexico, HANNIBAL premiered in first with an amazing ticket-take of $2.71 million. At #5, RED PLANET dusted off $390,792, growing its Mexican cume to $1.04 million. CAST AWAY floated into sixth, grossing $340,316, thereby pushing its Mexican cume to $5.54 million. In eighth, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON rescued $270,492, advancing its two-week Mexican cume to $639,921. In Sweden, HANNIBAL took the top spot in its debut, grossing $699,834. THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE slipped from second to third, grossing $249,917, thus bringing its Swedish cume to $1.68 million. In eighth, CROUCHING TIGER floated in $99,242, increasing its Swedish cume to $1.32 million. Holding steady in ninth, CAST AWAY added $82,143 to its $2.4 million Swedish cume. In its Hong Kong premiere, HANNIBAL hatched $660,246. At #6, CAST AWAY winged in another $72,624, raising its Hong Kong total to $3.05 million. For a third straight week in the U.K., HANNIBAL claimed the box office crown, grossing $4.24 million, thereby escalating its total to $23.58 million. Falling to sixth, THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE grabbed $1.53 million, elevating its U.K. cume to $9.3 million. In seventh, CROUCHING TIGER tagged an additional $610,271, growing its U.K. cume to $10.04 million. TRAFFIC raced into eighth with a ticket-take of $498,690 to raise its British cume to $8.89 million. In ninth, THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY & BULLWINKLE added $493,620 to its U.K. total of $4.96 million. In its second week in Spain, HANNIBAL hacked up another $3.52 million, elevating its cume to $6.41 million. In fourth, 102 DALMATIANS barked up $864,719, bringing its Spanish total to $3.42 million. At #6, VERTICAL LIMIT landed $648,501, increasing its Spanish cume to $5.9 million. CAST AWAY drifted into the seventh slot with a ticket-take of $591,549, advancing its Spanish cume to $9.18 million. At #8, TRAFFIC smuggled in an additional $525,340, raising its Spanish total to $2.6 million. Closing out the Spanish top ten, CROUCHING TIGER added $285,504 to its Spanish total of $468,632. In Germany, HANNIBAL held onto the #2 spot behind live-action comedy WHAT WOMEN WANT by grossing $2.63 million, thereby raising its total to $15.18 million. 102 DALMATIANS was spotted in fifth, grossing $1 million, thus lifting its German cume to $7.43 million. At #6, CAST AWAY hunted $879,001, piling its German cume to $28.36 million. RED PLANET crash-landed in seventh with a debut gross of $793,689. In eighth, LITTLE NICKY added $564,177 to its German cume of $1.33 million. In Canada HANNIBAL got knocked to second by the premiere of Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt's THE MEXICAN, grossing $841,945, thus raising its total to $8.21 million. The Canadian premiere of SEE SPOT RUN in third brought home $541,254. In sixth, TRAFFIC smoked up $474,454, raising its Canadian cume to $7.9 million. CROUCHING TIGER leapt into seventh with a ticket-take of $423,393, escalating its Canadian total to $7.12 million. In eighth, 3,000 MILES TO GRACELAND stole $378,288, lifting its two-week Canadian total to $1.06 million. Rounding out the Canadian top ten, Disney's RECESS: SCHOOL'S OUT scored $238,125, raising its total to $1.09 million. Down Under, HANNIBAL was kicked out of first by the debut of live-action thriller PROOF OF LIFE, leaving the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS sequel in second with a gross of $767,444, thereby bringing its cume to $5.76 million. In third, ALMOST FAMOUS fashioned another $737,514, lifting its Australian total to $1.83 million. CAST AWAY crashed into seventh, grossing $364,857, thus advancing its Australian cume to $11.28 million. At #8, CROUCHING TIGER brought in an additional $360,411, raising its cume to $4.24 million, thus making it the highest grossing foreign language film in Australian history. In Italy, VERTICAL LIMIT edged out HANNIBAL as the highest grossing F/X flick for the week, placing sixth with a gross of $783,120, which grew its total to $2 million. HANNIBAL followed in seventh with a ticket-take of $750,374, bringing its four-week Italian cume to $11.58 million. In a lackluster premiere in ninth, DRACULA 2000 sucked on $421,939. Finishing off the Italian top ten, CROUCHING TIGER added $401,113 to its $2.95 million total. In its Japanese debut, CAST AWAY sunk in $7.77 million. Dropping to second, UNBREAKABLE brought home another $3.49 million, raising its Japanese cume to $17.25 million. In fourth, THE CRIMSON RIVERS tacked $963,747 to its Japanese total of $10.14 million. In South Africa, CAST AWAY couldn't beat the draw of Mel Gibson and WHAT WOMEN WANT, so its debut settled for second, grossing $220,218. In third, UNBREAKABLE rescued another $71,804, advancing its South African cume to $587,287. Rounding out the South African top ten, VERTICAL LIMIT added $27,343 to its $1.19 million total. Box office figures were obtained on Variety.com and HollywoodReporter.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
