Collective box office revenue of nine territories was up 29% last weekend compared to the same weekend in 2006, according to Screen International's Screen Index.

North America led the increase - the territory saw a 41.1% year-on-year increase and took $149.6m at the weekend. Top film 300 - an adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel - took a whopping $70.8m at the weekend, 25% more than the combined total of last year's top three

films Failure To Launch, The Shaggy Dog and The Hills Have Eyes. Mainstream comedy Wild Hogs continued to draw US audiences as it generated $27.6m in its second weekend while family film Bridge To Terabithia took a solid $6.7m in its fourth weekend.

France was up 52.8% year-on-year as local favourites continue to dominate the chart. La Vie En Rose held on to the top spot in its third week, generating $6m from 711 screens while Taxi 4 grossed $4.9m from 834 screens. Gerard Depardieu comedy Michou d'Auber didn't trail far behind and took $2.3m in its opening weekend from 359 screens. These top three films collectively took 89% more than the top three of 2006, Les Bronzes 3, Orchestra Seats and The Comedy Of Power.

Italian cinemas continue to surge - the territory was up 45.5% compared to the same weekend last year. Successful local films supported by solid Hollywood product have kept the box office active in 2007. Last weekend, Luis Prieto's comedy Ho Voglia Di Te took a massive $8.2m in its first weekend, up 39.4% from last year's top film Il Mio Miglior Nemico. Healthy performance from studio films such as Saw III and Borat, which grossed $1.8m and $1.7m respectively, eclipsed last year's studio products Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit and Syriana which had yet to hit the $1m mark.

However, UK audiences favoured studio films last weekend as Norbit opened with a bang and took $3.7m from 368 sites, helping to boost the territory by 24.5% year-on-year. The Eddie Murphy comedy knocked local hit Hot Fuzz out of the top spot after three weeks at number one and generated 95% more than last year's top film The Hills Have Eyes. But Edgar Wright's Shaun Of The Dead follow-up still managed to generate an impressive $2.5m from 453 sites in its fourth weekend.

Mexican cinema was also up this weekend. The territory saw a 32.3% boost thanks to local new entry Ninas Mal which generated $1.5m at the weekend - a massive 118% increase on last year's number one Firewall.

But Japanese takings fell by 24.6% at the weekend. Last year's hit The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe saturated 780 screens and took 15% more than this year's top film Doraemon 2007, which generated $4.7m from only 330 screens.

Germany decreased by 15.4% year-on-year despite new entry Music And Lyrics generating almost $1m more than last year's number one The Wild Bunch 3. Last year, The Pink Panther and Brokeback Mountain, numbers two and three on the chart, took $2m and $1.9m respectively while this year's second film Norbit grossed $2.3m but third film Ghost Rider dropped dramatically in comparison with a $679,974 weekend gross.

And South Korea fell by 5% as The Illusionist failed to match the success of last year's local favourite Daisy and Spain also dropped marginally by 1.7%.

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