Company Town: Foreign box office a feather in the cap of ‘Robin Hood’

“Robin Hood” may have missed the mark domestically, but foreign moviegoers brought it closer to the bull’s-eye.

Director Ridley Scott’s pricey new version of the classic British tale, starring Russell Crowe, opened to $37.1 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to an estimate from distributor Universal Pictures, a soft start for a big-budget, summer-event film. Overseas, however, it took in a much more robust $74 million.

It was the No. 2 film at the domestic box office, behind “Iron Man 2,” which after a spectacular launch last week dropped a sizable 59% to $53 million.

The new Amanda Seyfried romance “Letters to Juliet” and the romantic comedy “Just Wright” with Queen Latifah both had modest debuts.

While “Robin Hood” did not come close to the $100-million-plus foreign debuts posted by blockbusters including “2012,” “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “Iron Man 2,” its international performance was at the high end of what Universal was hoping for and would have been good enough, if domestic results were stronger, to make the movie a success.

Great Britain, where “Robin Hood” takes place and was produced, was its most successful market, but several other countries turned in surprisingly strong results, including Italy, Mexico and Brazil.

“We knew from the start that international is where this film would be the strongest,” said Universal Pictures president of domestic distribution Nikki Rocco. “It’s a global business that we’re in now.”

Still, it was tough to sugarcoat the movie’s weak domestic opening, which was at the low end of already depressed expectations based on pre-release polling. Those who saw “Robin Hood” were as lukewarm as most critics, giving it an average grade of B-, according to the market research firm CinemaScore.

Mediocre buzz may be counter-balanced somewhat if the film continues to draw people 30 or older. Sixty-three percent of the opening weekend ticket buyers were in that demographic, which is more likely than younger people to see a movie after its opening weekend.

Still, “Robin Hood” probably will end up with a domestic total of about $100 million, an unimpressive performance for a big-budget summer picture.

That’s a bad sign for Crowe, whose last two movies, “State of Play” and “ Body of Lies,” both underperformed at the domestic box office as well.

Overseas, “Robin Hood” should end up with between $200 million and $250 million.

Universal executives have admitted it will be difficult to turn a profit on the picture. “Robin Hood” cost more than $200 million to make, according to two people familiar with the budget, though a spokesman said that if tax credits were included and costs for an aborted production start in 2008 were excluded, the budget was about $155 million.

“Robin Hood” is the third of three costly pictures released in 2010 by Universal and co-financed by Relativity Media that had executives at the companies nervous. The others, “The Wolfman” and “Green Zone,” both flopped.

Executives at the two companies are likely breathing a sigh of relief that their third risky picture has been released with no major damage and are looking forward to potentially more profitable pastures ahead.

The second-weekend drop for “Iron Man 2” was relatively steep given that opening weekend audiences gave it an average grade of A. Still, the superhero sequel financed by Walt Disney Co.-owned Marvel Entertainment and distributed by Paramount Pictures has grossed a very strong $212.6 million in its first 10 days.

Overseas, “Iron Man 2” took in $31 million this weekend, its third in most international markets, bringing its foreign total to $245 million.

“Letters to Juliet” had a modest but not terrible opening of $13.8 million. Distributor Summit Entertainment had been looking to sell closer to $20 million worth of tickets based on pre-release polling. However, the overwhelmingly female crowd gave the picture an average grade of A-, boosting hopes that it will play well in the shadow of summer-event films for the next few weeks.

It landed well behind Seyfriend’s romantic drama “Dear John,” which opened to $30.5 million in February, though that movie co-starred Channing Tatum.

Summit spent $30 million to produce “Juliet” but has already recouped half that amount through tax credits and foreign presales.

Fox Searchlight’s low-budget “Just Wright” failed to make much of an impact, opening to just $8.5 million.

ben.fritz@latimes.com