Worldwide box office review: 2007

Well, that's it, 2007 is more or less over, so time to review what did well in the year.
Despite poor reviews, Pirates 3 topped the worldwide chart with $961m. It was only the fourth most successful film in the US, but was top in the international market (and the most successful of the franchise). No surprise there; in fact no surprises in the top five.
Next up is Harry Potter 5 on $938.4m, another relative poor performer in the US (only fifth biggest), but a mighty $646.4m haul from the rest of the world put it second only to Depp and co. - and produced the second highest international take of the franchise. Harry Potter 6 opens in November 2008.
Spidey 3 topped the US chart and was the only other film to cross the $500m barrier internationally, taking $890.8m worldwide and making it the most commeercially successful of its franchise. Spider-Man 4 will follow, although it's likely Sam Raimi won't direct.
Shrek 3 coudln't hope to beat the $915.2m take of its predecessor, but nevertheless emerged honour intact in fourth worldwide with $794.5m. Shrek 4 remains on the cards, although a hard and fast release date has not been scheduled.
Transformers completes the top five: its $703m haul was split more or less equally between the US and international. Presumably we can expect a sequel.
Although only the eighth biggest movie in the US, Brad Bird's universally loved Ratatouille proved the dish of choice in international markets, garnering $405.8m and counting, leading to a worldwide prize of $612.2m. One eighth of the international gross came from the UK, while one sixth came from France. This is the highest placed 'original' movie in the top 10.
So far Brad Bird has not sequelised his movies: will pressure be put on him to do so?

In seventh place on $525.5m is The Simpsons, its take split two-thirds in favour of international. If the film performed as expected overseas, it almost certainly fell short of commercial expectations at home, ranking 10th. No signs of a sequel, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was one.
First quarter behemoth 300 performed surprisingly well in the US, those homo-erotic undertones apparently lost on those in the services who helped power it to $210.6m. Add in another $245.4m from overseas and 300 enjoyed a worldwide total of $456m. Or in other words, each Spartan was worth $1.5m...
In Greece, 300 spent a month at the top of the chart, raking in twice as much as Pirates 3, nearly three times as much as Spidey 3 and ten times more than Transformers, as Greek youth sought to reclaim its country's heritage.
300 director Zack Snyder's next comic-based epic opens in the same slot in 2009: Watchmen.
Bourne Ultimatum continued the franchise's growth, being bigger than the second (which in turn was bigger than the first), importantly not only at home but also finally abroad, almost doubling the previous instalment's international take to $213.5m. Its worldwide total was $441m. Given that there's a fourth book...
Tenth place falls to Die Hard 4.0. Although an under-performer at home (at least compared with Bourne), Die Harder raked in
$247.6m overseas, giving it a worldwide total of $382.1m.
Christmas/new year opener I Am Legend is closing fast on the Bruce Willis vehicle at $311.6m and still climbing.

The UK was dominated by the boy magician, ahead of the pirate, the ogre, Homer, and the spider. The next five positions were taken by the rat, the shape-changing robots, and Bourne.
Pleasingly the next three places were taken by home-grown figures: Mr Bean, Hot Fuzz and Matthew Vaughn's Stardust. The Golden Compass's end-of-season charge, while non-existent in the US (it's likely to top out at no more than $80m) is closing on $200m internationally and it will outgross Hot Fuzz and Stardust in the UK once its run is complete.