Musical grabs a cut of the foreign box office
From: Variety

“Sweeney Todd” sliced its way to the top during the weekend at the international box office with an impressive $18.7 million at 1,760 playdates in 11 markets, ending the five-week winning streak for “I Am Legend.”

With Johnny Depp having landed an Oscar nom for the pic last week, Warner Bros. saw “Sweeney” dominate via first-place launches in the U.K. with $8.7 million and in France with $4.4 million. Brits backed “Sweeney” solidly, with nearly 50% of the biz among the top five pics; in France, it topped the soph sesh of local entry “Enfin Veuve” and the launch of “No Country for Old Men”; and in Japan, it stayed in first with a 36% drop to $2.3 million.

“Sweeney,” with a beefy $10,624 per-location average, enjoyed the twin benefits of Depp’s international star power plus last week’s Academy Awards noms. With $30 million already banked offshore, the musical should wind up with an overseas take well in excess of the Stateside total, which is now at $50 million.