THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MONEY; `MARY' ENJOYING ITS OWN TITANIC SUCCESS OVERSEAS.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer ``There's Something About Mary'' is becoming a major hit in foreign theaters despite its gross-out humor, underscoring the pervasive influence of American culture in overseas markets. The lowbrow satire will likely top its $170 million domestic take by the end of its recently launched foreign run. It already has gone past $67 million in 24 territories and has yet to play in several major markets, including France, Japan and Spain. The overseas performance of ``Mary,'' starring Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller, is impressive because the 20th Century Fox release lacks the key ingredients of typical international hits - major stars, special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. and nonstop action. It collected $22 million in gross receipts the total of the receipts, before they are diminished by any deduction, as for expenses; - distinguished from net profits. - Bouvier. See under Gross, a. os> See also: Gross Receipt in the United Kingdom in six weeks, $10 million in Australia, $8 million in Italy in three weeks, $5 million in Brazil and $4.2 million in its opening week in Germany. `` `There's Something About Mary' was not supposed to be a $170 million film domestically, so I'd have to give it the benefit of the doubt in overseas markets,'' said Barry Hyman, an analyst with Ehrenkrantz King Nussbaum in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . ``Overseas box-office grosses are now an important part of the equation when it comes to deciding which films are being made. Those revenues are the only way studios can justify the prices they pay for stars and films.'' Given its bargain-basement production cost of $23 million, lucrative prospects as a home video and strong probability of a sequel, ``Mary'' will be the single most profitable movie property debuted this year. With box-office receipts generally split 50-50 with exhibitors, Fox parent News Corp. will see nearly $200 million in profit from its theatrical run alone. A top Fox executive recently told the weekly Variety that ``Mary'' could reach $175 million overseas. That would place it among the six highest-foreign-grossing comedies, led by the $211 million total from ``The Flintstones'' in 1994. The take for comedies is dwarfed by action films, led by the massive $1.2 billion gross for ``Titanic,'' since concepts like shipwrecks This list of shipwrecks is of those ships whose have been located. Africa East Africa
Device for binding the edges of an opening, as on a garment or a bag. A zipper consists of two strips of material with metal or plastic teeth along the edges, and a sliding piece that interlocks the teeth when moved in one direction and separates them again when moved accidents that may offend or not make sense to foreign crowds. Los Angeles-based analyst Tim Baskerville said the ability of a non-action film to succeed overseas, particularly if it already has been a hit in U.S. theaters, stems from the growing popularity of new multi-screen cinemas. ``Multiplexing creates more capacity and opportunity for movies beyond the top three,'' he said. ``Most of the screens will be filled with the best-performing American movies because exhibitors are going to want to offer staggered start times of the top films rather than show every film that's available.'' Baskerville estimates the foreign box office will rise from 60.8 percent of worldwide revenues ($10.96 billion) to 65.6 percent ($15.37 billion) in 2007. In nine years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time number of screens will grow 22 percent to 132,804 worldwide. ``Mary'' ran into censorship in Malaysia Censorship in Malaysia is a growing concern for this south-east Asian Country as it attempts to adapt to a modern knowledge-based economy[1]. The press is tightly restricted and the level of public debate is considered low. and Singapore, where several risque ris·qué adj. Suggestive of or bordering on indelicacy or impropriety. [French, from past participle of risquer, to risk, from risque, risk; see risk.] Adj. scenes were cut, but the film has managed to gross $1.9 million in South Korea and $1.1 million in Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. . ``I would imagine that this type of film will go over in the more Westernized west·ern·ize tr.v. west·ern·ized, west·ern·iz·ing, west·ern·iz·es To convert to the customs of Western civilization. west countries,'' Hyman said. ``I think they're getting used to our product and they're becoming more Americanized. ``There are greater opportunities to see our movies in theaters and through videocassettes. It's one world now.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) no caption (Scene from the movie ``There's Something About Mary'') |
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