TITANIC IS JUST THAT IN CHINA

Underlining the Chinese box office’s increasing clout, Titanic 3D raked in an astonishing $58 million at 2,600 theaters in China over the weekend, Daily Variety reported on its website today (Sunday). With an average of more than $22,000 per theater, China’s total represented two-thirds of the weekend’s $88.2 million overseas box office for the film, which continues to perform far more strongly abroad than it has domestically. (It took in a lackluster $11.1 million in North America, according to studio estimates.) The foreign results pushed Titanic past the $2-billion mark worldwide, the only film besides Avatar ever to have done so. Titanic‘s total now stands at $2.03 billion versus $2.80 billion for Avatar. Steaming ahead of Titanic in most other overseas markets was Universal’s Battleship, whose total overseas take from 26 markets equaled Titanic‘s in China alone — $58 million. The movie is being released mostly in European countries more than a month ahead of its domestic debut in order to steer clear of summer competition from the Olympics and Euro 2012, the European soccer championship.