'Smurfs' sees only local rivals

"The Smurfs""The Smurfs" may not be setting the overseas weekend box office on fire week after week, but the Sony live action-toon hybrid displayed sturdy enough legs to stay ahead of all challengers for the seventh straight week, collecting $12.6 million over the weekend of Sept. 23-25, to push its worldwide cume past the $500 million mark.And while major studio titles haven't been able to catch "The Smurfs" in total overseas grosses, several foreign-lingo pics turned in solid perfs locally. For instance, Lebanese Oscar entry "Where Do We Go Now?" bowed with $153,358, making it the biggest opening for an Arabic-speaking pic in that country. The local record was held previously by Lebanese TV production "Daddy's Girl," which collected $109,341 in 2007, followed by 2009's Egyptian blockbuster, "Omar & Salma 2," with $110,828.Also appealing to local auds, "Mannerherzen 2" -- a co-production among Warner Bros. Pictures Germany, Wiedemann and Berg Filmproduktion -- stayed atop the German B.O. for its second consecutive frame, with a weekend take of $1.7 million for a local cume of $5.5 million.The follow-up to 2009's "Men in the City," about a group of men who fall in and out of love, grossed $6.4 million collectively from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.Warners also distribbed local title "Top Cat" in Mexico, where the film took in $1.7 million in its soph sesh -- enough to maintain the No. 1 spot in that territory. "Top Cat," produced by Anima Estudios in Mexico and Illusion Studios in Argentina, tallied $5.6 million locally after two weeks.Twentieth Century Fox launches Indian pic "Force," over the coming weekend in eight territories mostly including in the Middle East, as well as Australia and the U.K. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

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