French film 99 Francs was the highest new entry in this weekend's international chart as it generated $3.7m from 431 sites in three territories, putting it just within the top 10 in its opening weekend.

(See Screen International's full international chart, compiled by Len Klady, here.)

The French comedy, directed by Jan Kounen and distributed internationally through Pathe Distribution, had an impressive $8,689 screen average -the second highest in the international top 40- and opened at number one in France, number six in Belgium and number eight in Switzerland.

And L'Invite -- another French comic offering -- stayed within the top 30 this weekend, dropping a moderate 28% in its second weekend. The film, released by Europa, had a $1.4m take at the weekend from 490 screens. It has generated $3.7m to date since its release in France and Belgium.

Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, fresh off winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, boasted this weekend's highest screen average in its first weekend in the chart. The espionage drama took nearly $2m from 111 screens for a whopping $17,863 screen average. The film, which has caused controversy due to its sex scenes, had a record-breaking opening in Hong Kong and Taiwan on Sept 25 and has since generated $4.8m.

Jodie Foster starrer The Brave One saw the biggest leap - the film was up 1299% in its third weekend thanks to a slew of European openings including Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK. The Warner Bros thriller took $6.4m from 2,048 screens for a $3,134 screen average. It has generated more than $8m at the international box office.

Japanese sensation Hero fell just out of the top 10 after four weekends on release. The film, based on the Fuji TV series and distributed by Toho, fell a moderate 19% and took $3.5m from 475 screens for a $7,522 screen average.

Toho also saw success with new entrant Closed Note, which came in at number 27. The drama, based on the novel by Shusuke Shizukui, took $1.5m from 294 screens in its opening weekend in Japan.

Korean films continued to make their presence known as three films made the chart, accounting 4.1% of the total top 40 international revenue. A Love came up top with $2.5m take from 390 screens and boasts a $10.3m international tally to date.

And Cinema Service's Kidnapping Granny K fell by 28% with a $1.1m take while CJ Entertainment's The Happy Life crept back up two places to number 39 with a $1.03m take despite a 10% drop.

UK-US co-productions continue to fare well: -Matthew Vaughn's Stardust, distributed by Paramount Pictures International (PPI) alongside United Pictures International (UIP) was up 37% after opening in parts of Eastern Europe. The fantasy film took $2.1m from 694 screens and has generated $22.5m to date. New Line's Run, Fat Boy, Run continued its winning stride in the UK. The Simon Pegg comedy held onto the UK number one spot for the fourth weekend in a row taking more than $2m at the weekend. And Atonement, released through Universal Pictures International (UPI) and UIP slipped 33% to number 22 with a $1.8m take over the three-day period.

UPI came up trumps again this weekend with three films in the top 10. The Bourne Ultimatum took $9.6m from 3,344 screens while I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry was up a massive 72% after expanding in seven territories, including Germany and Mexico. The comedy generated $8.7m from 35 territories. Evan Almighty was also up -- the Steve Carell starrer jumped 10 places in its 15th week, grossing $3.7m at the weekend.

The top 40 international films generated $112.2m from 38,732 screens from Sept 28-30. The collective total was down 3.5% compared to last weekend.

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