‘Resident Evil: Retribution,’ ‘Ted’ Rule Foreign Box Office

Director Paul W.S. Anderson and action hero Milla Jovovich’s Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth installment of the long-running series, has topped the foreign box office yet again. Box Office Mojo reports that newest entry in the franchise generated $30.5 million over the weekend, bringing its foreign total to around $103.8 million. The film apparently has stronger legs overseas than it does in the US; domestically, the flick has earned $34 million as of this writing.

Simon West’s The Expendables 2 — which re-teams Sylvester Stallone with Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Dolph Lundgren — also managed to snag quite a bit of cash over the weekend; the action-packed sequel reportedly earned an estimated $12 million. This extra chunk of change helps push the picture’s foreign box office total above $200 million. Worldwide, The Expendables 2 has amassed $284 million in ticket sales. Not bad for a film starring a bunch of 80s action heroes.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Resident Evil: Retribution and The Expendables sequel had some fuzzy competition over the weekend. Family Guy mastermind Seth MacFarlane’s Ted, a movie about a teddy bear and his adult companion (Mark Wahlberg), also enjoyed a healthy run at the foreign box office. The film managed to bring in $9.4 million in foreign markets, bringing its worldwide total to $202.9 million.

The Bourne Legacy, while trailing behind the likes of Ted and Resident Evil: Retribution, finally broke through the $100 million barrier at the foreign box office. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises also continued to make bank outside of North America. Receipts from China, Australia, and the United Kingdom helped inflate the film’s worldwide total to over $1 billion.

Other big summer release have fared well at the foreign box office including Ridley Scott’s Prometheus ($271 million), the animated family film Madagascar 3 ($412 million), and the recent reboot of the Spider-Man franchise ($490 million).

After spending two weeks at the top of the foreign box office, it will be interesting to see if Resident Evil: Retribution can hold onto the crown for a third week straight.