Directed by Bill Condon, and starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 either has already passed or is about to pass — tomorrow, at the latest — the $600 million mark worldwide. According to Box Office Mojo, Breaking Dawn had collected an estimated $344.8 million internationally as of December 4, in addition to $249.38 million in the United States and Canada as of Dec. 6 for a grand total of $594.18 million.
In North America alone, Breaking Dawn added $1.31 million on Tuesday; last weekend, the latest Twilight movie added $40.4 million internationally. For comparison's sake, both Chris Weitz' The Twilight Saga: New Moon, though substantially ahead of Breaking Dawn in the (still depressed) domestic market, and David Slade's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse reached the $600 million mark on their fourth weekend out. For Breaking Dawn, that would be next Friday-Sunday.
Now, does that mean Breaking Dawn is selling more tickets abroad than New Moon and Eclipse did back in late 2009 and mid-2010, respectively? That's hard to tell. Even discounting inflation, currency fluctuations can drastically affect the box-office take of a movie overseas when local currencies are converted to US dollars. But considering that the U.S. dollar is now stronger in many territories than it was, say, a year or two ago, chances are that Breaking Dawn is indeed selling more tickets. In other words, since the U.S. dollar is stronger, that means euros, pesos, etc. earned abroad buy fewer U.S. dollars. Even so, in the international market Breaking Dawn is currently ahead of both New Moon and Eclipse.
If things continue as they are, Breaking Dawn should be able to reach the $700 million mark worldwide. New Moon cumed at $709m; Eclipse at $698m. Breaking Dawn may have failed to land the top spot in France for a single weekend — The Intouchables remains unbeatable — but it did top three weekends in a row in Brazil and Australia, and has topped two weekends in Germany and Mexico, among other countries.