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LAS VEGAS (AP) - Leonardo DiCaprio's latest movie, ``The Beach'' sank like the Titanic with U.S. moviegoers. Its distributor, 20th Century Fox, isn't worried, though.
``The Beach'' is staying afloat in overseas markets, where it is expected to gross at least twice its U.S. take, showing just how big a force international theater circuits have become for Hollywood.
With the United States saturated with new movie megaplexes, cinema companies are turning more resources to construction of movie screens overseas, theater owners said Monday at the opening of ShoWest, the industry's annual trade show.
``We won't see a whole lot more growth in theaters in the United States,'' said John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners. ``But the megaplexing of the world is just now getting under way.''
The number of theater screens overseas is about four times the 37,000 in the United States, but many foreign cinemas are outdated and in need of the sort of makeover that has gone on among U.S. theaters, with better sound, seating and other comforts, Fithian said.
``The rest of the world is actually untouched at this point,'' said Jerry Magner, chief financial officer for National Amusements Inc. In the late 1980s, the Massachusetts-based theater chain had no overseas cinemas, but nearly one-fourth of its 1,300 screens now are in foreign countries.
Foreign theaters accounted for less than a third of Hollywood's movie revenue 20 years ago. Today, overseas cinemas make up about 55 percent of the industry's business, and that figure is expected to rise as more modern theaters are built.
Certain films that play better to foreign audiences, such as ``The Beach'' or MGM's James Bond adventures, can do an even higher percentage of their business overseas.
A dark, brooding tale of an American backpacker on a quest for paradise in Thailand, ``The Beach'' failed to capture the heartbreak crowd of young women who helped make DiCaprio's ``Titanic'' the highest-grossing movie of all-time.
Released last month, the movie has made an anemic $35 million domestically but already has surpassed that in just a few European countries, including Britain and France.
The movie's somber tone, foreign setting and international popularity of director Danny Boyle, who made ``Trainspotting,'' probably gave it wider appeal among non-American audiences.
Jim Gianopulos, president of 20th Century Fox International, said the studio expects ``The Beach'' to do at least twice as much business overseas as in the United States. That should ensure the studio will turn a profit on ``The Beach,'' which cost about $50 million to make.
The growth of foreign movie markets is evident from Fox's ``Star Wars'' movies. The first three films, from 1977, 1980 and 1983, did far better domestically than overseas.
The latest, last year's ``Phantom Menace,'' grossed $431 million in the United States but $60 million more than that internationally.
The same is true for ``Titanic,'' which took in $600 million domestically and twice that outside the United States.
``When you apply the sheer magnitude of the market place beyond the U.S., you get this kind of result,'' Gianopulos said. ``There are predictions out there over the next decade of the international box office being two-thirds of the market.''
Likely growth markets for theater developers include Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia, notably China's untapped audiences.
``It's just sitting there waiting for the taking,'' Peter Dobson of Warner International Theatres said at a panel discussion Monday.
BANGKOK, March 11 (AFP) - Leonardo DiCaprio's hit movie The Beach, which has been dogged by controversy in Thailand, enjoyed a trouble-free opening night in Bangkok.
Movie-goers told AFP that most major cinemas were crowded Friday night as the movie made its debut as reports Saturday said protests from environmental activists had not eventuated.
The movie's invite-only charity premiere Tuesday met with a furious protest from enviromentalists who claim producers 20th Century Fox had ruined a fragile eco-system while filming in Maya Bay on Phi Phi island.
Fox denies any damage to Maya Bay, in southern Thailand, while DiCaprio has defended the use of the island and a court case alleging damage is still going on.
"The Beach screened yesterday without expected protests from ecologists and environmentalists," the Nation daily said.
The Beach based on the cult novel by Alex Garland, rails against the destructive impact of heavy tourism.
It tells the story of a traveller whose desire to get off the beaten track leads him to a remote island inhabited by a community of displaced Westerners intent on escaping the tourist throng.
"For a while we were untouchable in our happiness"..
"I thought we'd have to talk about our positive energies a lot, kiss the earth every morning and recycle our waste products by some unspeakable mechanism. Fortunately not, it really was some kind of paradise!"