Showing minimal box office fatigue at the foreign box office, “Avatar” logged a 10th consecutive weekend at No. 1 after a $51 million round.

Director James Cameron’s record-setting blockbuster has earned $1.78 billion internationally, with its worldwide tally weighing in at $2.47 billion. In addition to its worldwide record in current dollars, “Avatar” has now beaten 1997’s “Titanic’s” global box office milestone on an inflation-adjusted basis as well.

The top market remains France where “Avatar” claimed $6.3 million on the weekend, raising its local total to $165.1 million.


Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island,” which opened No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada, also earned $9.1 million in nine overseas markets. Spain ($3.4 million) led the way, followed by Australia ($2.5 million) and Russia ($1.3 million).

“Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” was No. 3 overall with a $23.2 million weekend; its foreign total rose to $67.9 million. “Valentine’s Day” was a close No. 3 after seducing $23 million, taking its total to $71.3 million.

“The Wolfman” was No. 4 after scaring up $16 million. Its overseas total rose to $46.7 million. “The Princess and the Frog” grabbed the No. 5 slot after a $12.1 million weekend; its overseas total rose to $131.5 million.

Opening in 15 new markets was “The Lovely Bones,” which generated $7.2 million on the weekend from a total of 21 territories. Director Peter Jackson’s fantasy thriller opened at No. 4 in the U.K. ($2.7 million). Its international total stands at $25.4 million.

Other foreign totals: “Sherlock Holmes,” $266 million; “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” $215.5 million; “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs,” $107.7 million; “It’s Complicated,” $84.4 million; “Invictus,” $63 million. “The Tooth Fairy,” $36.4 million; and “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” $21.6 million.

Megan Fox will  host Saturday Night Live’s premiere next month.

“Megan is psyched to have gotten this opportunity,” an insider told Life & Style. “She has a lot of surprises in store for the audience. This is the perfect opportunity for her to show off her comedic skills, as she’s launching her new movie Jennifer’s Body.”

The 35th season of SNL premieres on Sept 26.

The good news: Universal Pictures is making a big screen adaptation of the videogame Bioshock after all. The bad news: Gore Verbinski has stepped out of the director’s chair. Who is the new director? Why did Verbinski step down? Details after the jump.

Lets recap the story thus far: Universal greenlit the movie, and director Gore Verbinski stepped down from directing a possible fourth film in the Pirates of the Carribbean series. But in late April, Universal shut down the production, due to the film’s ballooning budget. The plan was to rework the script and explore possible locations outside the country which would offer financial incentives. When asked by the Los Angeles Times for an update on the project, Verbinski sounded less than hopeful.

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Universal’s somber comedy “Funny People” is off to a decent start, but the big question is: Will the word-of-mouth be strong or will it be another “Bruno?”

The Adam Sandler-Seth Rogen comedy sold $8.6 million worth of tickets Friday, according to Universal Studios. Assuming it follows the pattern of other comedies, it should end up earning about $25 million for the three-day weekend. That’s lower then pre-release polling had indicated, but a respectable launch given the $75 million production budget.

It remains to be seen, however, how audiences respond to the picture’s serious tone, a rare departure for the stars and a first ever attempt at pathos by writer/director Judd Apatow. If buzz from first-day viewers is bad and the movie experiences a substantial Saturday drop, as “Bruno” did, it could gross closer to $20 million and give Universal reason to worry about its final major release of the summer.

Fox and New Regency’s “Aliens in the Attic,” the weekend’s other new picture, is off to a soft start as expected. It earned $2.85 million on Friday and will likely gross under $10 million through Sunday. The movie cost $45 million to produce.

Last weekend’s No. 1 movie “G-Force” looks like it is holding on well, much to the relief of Walt Disney Pictures, which saw the costly $150 million production open to only $31.7 million last weekend. Its ticket sales declined 50% on Friday. Given the stronger performance of family pictures on Saturdays and Sundays, it should end up dropping closer to 40% for the three days.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” also had a solid showing Friday. It’s on track to decline around 40% for the weekend as well, validating the theory of Warner Bros. that the movie’s grosses would improve after it started playing in 162 new Imax theaters on Wednesday.

After its record-breaking worldwide opening the previous frame, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” gave up considerable boxoffice altitude on the foreign circuit during the weekend but still remained a dominant No. 1 with $84.4 million lured from more than 16,000 screens in 64 territories.

Although the weekend take dropped 64% from its smashing debut, the “Prince” frame catapult Warner Bros. past the $1 billion international gross mark for the year, the ninth consecutive year the studio has surpassed that benchmark.

Fox was the first studio this year to top $1 billion internationally, doing so this month. Paramount is on the verge of joining the club, and Sony hopes to do so by early next month.

“Prince’s” overseas cume is $405.3 million and its global boxoffice total is $627.2 million, making the sixth outing in the multibillion-dollar Warners franchise the 39th biggest-grossing title in history after just 12 days of release.

The latest “Potter” opened in Poland ($2 million from 196 screens) and Argentina ($1.9 million from 190 sites), but the big numbers continue to be drawn from the major territories. The top three are Germany, with $9.25 million from 1,377 screens for a cume of $40 million; France, with $9 million from 970 spots for a $33.6 million cume; and the U.K., with $8.3 million from 585 locations for a cume of $53.5 million.

“G-Force,” the weekend’s No. 1 film in the U.S. and Canada, dipped its toes in international waters via Disney in Chile. The first four days at 37 locations produced an estimated $300,000, or about $8,000 per screen, enough for a No. 3 market ranking.

Disney’s comedy “The Proposal” opened at No. 2 in the U.K. with an estimated $3.4 million derived from 428 screens.

Finishing a solid second during the weekend was Fox’s “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” which collected $40.6 million from 9,946 situations in 102 markets. The threequel remains 2009’s top grosser internationally with an overseas cume of $505.4 million (vs. $171.3 million domestic).

In third was Warners’ sleeper hit “The Hangover,” which continues to show unusual overseas traction for a comedy. Propelled by a $4.3 million Germany opening (including previews) at 455 screens, “Hangover” drew $10.2 million from a total of 2,300 sites in 37 territories. Its foreign cume stands at $98.5 million.

Premiering in 13 markets, “Public Enemies” drew $9.6 million from 2,600 locations in 33 territories, finishing No. 4 overall and lifting its overseas cume to $36.3 million. The best new market for the Johnny Depp crime drama was Russia, where the No. 2 tally was $2.4 million from 327 spots. It was the biggest overseas opening for a title from director Michael Mann, distributor Universal said.

Fifth on the weekend was DreamWorks/Paramount’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” which grossed $7.5 million from 6,891 spots in 63 territories. The sequel’s foreign cume is at $413.2 million, compared with the $389 million grossed by the 2007 original during its entire foreign run.

A listless France debut ($1.1 million from 214 screens, ranking No. 5) held the weekend tally for “Bruno” to an estimated $6.5 million from 2,700 situations in 33 markets, bringing the overseas cume for the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy — from co-distributors Universal, Sony and Mandate International — to $56 million. Worldwide, “Bruno” has grossed $112.5 million to date.

Sony’s “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” co-starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, scored close to a No. 1 finish in its Spain opening: $2.1 million from 359 screens. Overall, the weekend provided $2.8 million from 540 sites in 14 markets for an overseas cume of $9.1 million.

Also in France, the top local-language title was “Une semaine dur deux,” a melodrama from TFM Distribution. Its opening round drew $1.3 million from 330 screens and a No. 4 market ranking.

Opening at No. 5 was EuropaCorp. Distribution’s import of actor-director Tony Jaa’s martial arts drama “Ong Bak 2,” from Thailand’s Sahamongkol Film; its gross was $1.2 million from 280 spots. The Weinstein Co.’s “The Reader” finished at No. 6 in France with $1 million from 285 locations in its second round, off 33% from the opener. The market cume for the Kate Winslet starrer stands at $3 million.

Other international cumes: Fox’s “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” $212.1 million; Sony’s “Terminator Salvation,” $237.9 million; Universal’s “State of Play,” $48.6 million; Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” $183.4 million; and Universal’s “The Limits of Control,” $30,000 (opening at five situations in Australia).

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