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The Dubai Intl. Film Festival is launching a Cinematic Innovation Summit in tandem with its 10th edition, with Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith, Lava Bear Films topper David Linde and Avatar thesp Stephen Lang among those expected to attend. The event, which will take place in Dubai on Dec. 5 and 6, is being described... Read more »

It only has 3 of the top international markets in release. And it doesn’t open in North American until May 24th. But Twentieth Century Fox’s Blue Sky Studios toon Epic launched with almost no fanfare overseas to $14.5M from 4,674 screens in 16 markets. Mexico ($3.5M from 1,416), Brazil ($2.5M from 616), and Germany ($2.3M from 957) were the leaders with 20 additional international markets opening next Memorial Weekend alongside the U.S. The storyline bears great resemblance to Fox’s juggernaut Avatar and little to Blue Sky’s previous blockbuster franchise Ice Age. “This is an excellent launch in a competitive window,” a Fox exec told me. Epic was #1 in 8 markets, and #2 in 5 markets,  because of what has been a long, long draught for family fare in the worldwide market. The last toon in theaters was DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods also distributed by Fox which is playing in 38 markets and whose international cume to date of $375.8M is the 19th highest grossing animated film of all time overseas. Worldwide cume is $552.2M.