'Breaking Dawn' tops $500 million worldwide (Variety)

Summit Entertainment has topped the $500 million worldwide box office mark for "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" in a dozen days.

The minimajor opened the fourth "Twilight" film in most markets on Nov. 18. Domestic grosses as of Monday had topped $223 million with the U.K. as the leading international territory with $38.6 million, followed by $26.8 million in Russia, $23 millioon in France, $20.6 million in Brazil, $20.4 million in Australia, $18.5 million in Spain and $18.3 million in Italy.

Summit pre-sold the the foreign markets to finance the newest "Twilight" pic.

Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger said, "We couldn't be more pleased with the success of this film and a franchise that the fans have continued to support over the past several years."

The first "Twilight" generated $192 million domestically and $190 million on the foreign side. "New Moon" saw a massive jump in box office performance with domestic at $296 million and foreign at $396 million. "Eclipse" performed at about the same level last year with $300 million domestically and $373 million internationally.

Source: Variety