FUN WORLD

Family-oriented 3D animation title Rio, about an amiable macaw seeking love in Brazil, flew high on the foreign theatrical circuit on the weekend with a No. 1 box office draw of $53.9 million drawn from 13,705 screens in 62 territories.

The weekend action thrusts Rio’s foreign gross total well past the $100-million mark ($129.1 million). The film also opened No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada on the weekend, and has generated a worldwide gross so far of $169.1 million.

Openings in 17 fresh markets generated eight No. 1 debuts, the biggest being the film’s France bow ($4.7 million derived from 781 locations). In Venezuela, the weekend gross ($1.4 million from 99 sites) was the biggest opening stanza ever recorded in the market, said Fox.

Directed by Rio native Carlos Saldanha, Rio held especially well in its second Brazil round, tallying $7.46 million from 997 sites for a market cume of $18.9 million. Although it dropped to the No. 2 spot in the U.K., the computer animation title from Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios drew $2.99 million in the territory on the weekend from 1,100 locations, a jump of 26% from the opening market weekend.

Rio finished No. 1 overseas for the second straight weekend.

New to the foreign circuit and ranking second overall on the weekend was Dimension/The Weinstein Co.’s Scream 4, which also opened No. 2 domestically. Directed by Wes Craven, the latest title in the horror series begun in 1996 drew an estimated $18 million from some 3,100 situations in 30 territories.

Scream premiered No. 1 the U.K ($3.5 million from 410 locations), No. 2 in France (also $3.5 million from 440 spots) and in Brazil ($1.4 million from 207 screens), No. 3 in Mexico, No. 4 in Australia and No. 5 in Italy. The Russia tally was $2.5 million from about 700 screens. Worldwide, the film grossed a total of $37.3 million. A Spain opening is due on Wednesday.

Buoyed by openings in 14 markets -- including a $1.8 million, No. 2 bow at 489 Mexico situations – Universal’s Hop grossed $10.3 million overall from 5,200 playdates in 45 territories for a foreign gross cume to date of $29.4 million. It ranks No. 3 on the weekend.

The Easter bunny title blending animation and live action remains strong in Australia, where it drew $2.3 million in its second round from 247 venues, a bounce of nearly 50% over the opening weekend. Hop opens in nine markets this week. Its worldwide gross total stands at $112 million.

No. 4 on the weekend was Warner Bros.’ Sucker Punch, which drew an estimated $9.5 million from some 6,500 screens in 55 markets. International cume for director Zack Snyder’s fantasy thriller comes to $44.2 million.

Tied for the fifth spot were a pair of comedies, Universal’s Paul and Sony’s Just Go With It, which both drew weekend tallies of $5.8 million. A road comedy from Working Title Films, Paul played 1,300 playdates in 20 territories and pushed its foreign gross total to $39.9 million.

Costarring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, Just Go With It played at 2,265 locations in 63 markets and shoved its foreign cume almost to the $100 million mark ($97 million) since opening overseas on Feb. 9.

Sony’s Battle: Los Angeles, known in foreign markets as World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles, generated $4.6 million from 2,197 playdates in 54 markets and pushed its foreign cume to $110.7 million since opening offshore on March 9. Warner’s Red Riding Hood came in at $4.5 million from 1,500 locations in 26 markets for a foreign cume of $22.5 million.

Source Code, Summit International’s thriller starring Jake Gyllenhall, grossed $3.5 million from some 1,660 screens in 22 markets. A Spain opening generated $800,000 from 304 dates despite intense competition from a Real Madrid/Barcelona football match on tv. Code’s foreign cume stands at $18.6 million.

DreamWorks/Disney’s sci-fi thriller I Am Number Four hoisted its foreign cume to $83.4 million thanks to a $3 million weekend at 3,050 screens in 39 territories. Paramount’s 3D concert film, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, upped its foreign cume to $22.3 million after a $2.3 million weekend at 1,224 locations in 40 territories.

Other international cumes: Paramount’s Rango, $115.5 million; Fox’s Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, $42.5 million; Paramount’s No Strings Attached, $73.9 million; Warner’s The Rite, $61.6 million; Fox’s Black Swan, $190 million; Universal’s The Adjustment Bureau, $50.8 million; Fox’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, $311.7 million; Focus Features/Universal’s The Eagle, $5.8 million (Universal territories only); Fox’s Gulliver’s Travels, $180 million (after a No. 2 Japan opening generating $3.45 million from 618 venues); Paramount’s Limitless, 11.2 million in U.K. only; and Sony’s Hanna, $1.2 million (Sony territories only).