Overseas boxoffice close to 2007 record

December 29, 2008 [...] with school holidays continuing for another week in most international markets, movies have a chance to pick up more coin before 2008 fades away. Escape 2 Africa and Fox's Australia and The Day the Earth Stood Still led the holiday charge, with the Central Park Zoo escapees caroling to $36 million from 5,650 screens in 41 countries to lift the pic's foreign gross to $283 million. "Madagascar 2," which began its slow rollout at the end of October in Russia (where it has grossed $40.6 million to date), depended mostly on holdovers to maintain its leadership of the international market.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.