'Apes' coin evolving; 'Potter' still magic

Bowing in just 25 markets, 20th Century Fox's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" collected an impressive $23.8 million at the overseas box office over the Aug. 5-7 weekend. Still it was unable to get within hailing distance of Warners' "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," which took in an astonishing $63.1 million in its fourth week of wide play at foreign wickets."Potter" was boosted greatly by a record-setting debut in China, where the pic grossed $26.5 million in four days, repping Warners biggest opening ever in that territory. Thanks mostly to China, "Part 2" dropped a miniscule 5% overall.As of Aug. 8, "Part 2" has cumed $801.5 million internationally, surpassing "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" ($798.5 million) to become 2011's highest-grossing release. Domestically, the "Potter" finale reached $344.8 million (also tops in 2011) as of Aug. 8, for a global cume of $1.146 billion -- making "Part 2" the third-highest worldwide grosser ever behind "Avatar" and "Titanic."Fox's "Apes" didn't swing to record-setting heights, but the franchise reboot still managed to reach the top in most of the territories it played in, including Russia, Australia, Spain and Taiwan, which repped the film's only top-15 markets in its debut.In Russia, "Apes" posted $5.2 million, followed closely by Oz and Spain, where the pic collected $5.1 million apiece. Pic's No. 4 market, Taiwan, contributed $1.3 million from 110 screens -- a considerably smaller screen count than in any other top market for "Apes."Spain was a particular coup for the Fox pic: "Apes" doubled what "Captain America: The First Avenger" bowed to ($2.5 million) that same weekend in the territory.Overall, "Apes" got off to a slower start than Fox's earlier summer franchise reboot, "X-Men: First Class," which bowed day-and-date in 55 markets for a total of $61 million.It's unlikely "Apes" will see similar overseas results as "First Class," which cumed $206 million, especially since the more recent pic has a shorter summer window.But with fewer new summer tentpoles skedded to bow in the coming weeks, "Apes" also will have less competition than "X-Men" did after it bowed June 3. "Apes" expands in its second frame to 17 additional markets, including France, Germany and the U.K.Sony had considerable success with "The Smurfs," which expanded to 35 new territories in its second overseas outing."Smurfs," which collected $4 million from Spain only in its opening weekend, tallied $47.9 million for an international cume of $55.5 million after two weeks. That's encouraging news for Sony, particularly as "Smurfs" outperformed another live action-toon hybrid, "Alivin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," in markets like France and Germany.In Gaul, "Smurfs" grossed $5.9 million, beating "Alvin 2" by 20%, while German auds shelled out nearly twice as much overall ($5.4 million) for "Smurfs" as they did the "Chipmunks" bow.Latin America was another blue-ribbon region for "Smurfs," with top market Brazil contributing $6.7 million on an impressive $21,000 per-screen average, ahead of this year's toons "Cars 2" and "Kung Fu Panda 2" by 26% and 38%, respectively. In Mexico, "Smurfs" debuted to $5.5 million, almost 70% better than that territory's second-place film.The solid overseas start -- coupled with its domestic perf -- prompted Sony to move forward on a "Smurfs" sequel, which the studio has dated for Aug. 2, 2013.Until then, however, "Smurfs" should have another solid weekend at international wickets, broadening to major 3D markets including China, Russia, South Korea and the U.K.Emilio Mayorga in Barcelona, Ed Meza in Berlin, David Hayhurst in Paris, Nick Vivarelli in Rome and Mark Schilling in Tokyo contributed to this report. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com