NO. 1 FILM IN BRITAIN: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

It would seem to be an unlikely success story. The No. 1 film at the British box office is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which opened with $1.75 million (including Wednesday and Thursday previews). As Britain’s Guardian newspaper observed, the movie had always appeared to be a tough sell at the British box office. Films about U.S. presidents, it noted, have rarely performed strongly in the U.K., and star Benjamin Walker is hardly a marquee name. At the foreign box office overall, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted held on to first place for the third week in a row with $30.1 million in 44 markets, pushing its overseas gross past the $200-million mark to $208.4 million. Disney also opened Brave in just 10 markets that do not appear to be strongly impacted by the European soccer championships. It pulled in a solid $13.5 million in those markets with Russia alone accounting for $5.6 million — or 42 percent — of that total.