Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI) crossed the $1 billion mark in overseas box office receipts in record time for the company.
The previous record for the studio was Sept. 8, 2002, the year the studio grossed its record high overseas take of $1.305 billion. It marks the sixth time overall and the fifth time in the past seven years that SPRI has amassed more than $1 billion in ticket sales from international territories.
In 2006 to date, films from Sony Pictures Ent. have generated approximately $2.1 billion in worldwide ticket sales.
Upcoming titles include the 21st James Bond adventure, CASINO ROYALE, Will Smith's THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, GRIDIRON GANG starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sony Pictures Animation's first feature, OPEN SEASON, Sofia Coppola's MARIE ANTOINETTE and the Will Ferrell comedy, STRANGER THAN FICTION.
"This is a marvelous achievement for any studio. Our filmmakers really delivered the goods and were committed to making the extra effort to promote their titles overseas, which is critical in this ultra competitive environment," said Paul Smith, president of Worldwide Theatrical Operations for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. "We have one of the most gifted and creative international distribution and marketing teams in the business and their hard work helped us hit the magic $1 billion mark in record time."
"We're proud of our people all around the world who formulate and execute release strategies with precision, consistency and great creative energy," said Mark Zucker, president of distribution for SPRI. "It's been an excellent year so far, and considering the strength of our upcoming releases, I expect 2006 will end as SPRI's best year ever."
Contributing to the record pace overseas was Columbia Pictures' THE DA VINCI CODE, which was released in May and set a record for the biggest international debut of $154.7 million. THE DA VINCI CODE opened #1 in each of the 90 territories where the film debuted and has generated more than $535 million to date overseas. The hit mystery thriller is SPRI's highest-grossing film of all time and it became the 10th biggest film ever released internationally on July 23.
Also contributing to the 2006 total overseas were such films as FUN WITH DICK AND JANE and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA.
Sony Pictures Releasing International is a Sony Pictures Ent. (SPE, www.sonypictures.com) company. SPE is a subsidiary of Sony Corp. of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corp. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution, television production and distribution, worldwide channel investments, home entertainment acquisition and distribution, operation of studio facilities, development of new entertainment products, services and technologies and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
