"The Proposal" sold $12.4 million worth of tickets across the United States and Canada Friday?

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sandra Bullock took the crown at the weekend box office in North America for the first time in 10 years with her latest romantic comedy, according to preliminary sales data issued Saturday.

"The Proposal" sold $12.4 million worth of tickets across the United States and Canada Friday, said Walt Disney Co.'s Touchstone Pictures.

The Proposal is an American romantic comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher. The screenplay was written by Pete Chiarelli and stars Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. The film was released on June 18, 2009 in Australia and June 19 in North America by Touchstone Pictures.

Plot synopsis

Spoiler Alert Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is the executive editor-in-chief of a book publishing company, Colden Books, who forces her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid being deported to Canada. He grudgingly accepts, under the condition that he is promoted to the position of editor. When the government investigates, the two are forced to spend the weekend with his parents in Alaska in order to sell the lie. The family suggests they could marry the same weekend, and they reluctantly accept. They start to fall genuinely in love as they spend more and more time together. Because of this, during the wedding ceremony, Margaret decides she cannot do this to Andrew and confesses the business arrangement in front of everyone--including the immigration officer handling their case. She is then told that she has 24 hours to get back to Canada, and thus goes back to New York to pack her things. Upon doing so, however, Andrew shows up at the office and confesses his love for her in front of the entire office staff, proposing marriage all over again.

The film ended the two-week reign of the bachelor-party comedy "The Hangover," which earned $8.5 million Friday, according to Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros. Pictures.

Also reporting $8.5 million was the new Jack Black prehistoric comedy "Year One," which was released by Sony Corp's Columbia Pictures.

A clearer picture will emerge Sunday when the studios issue three-day estimates.

Bullock, 44, stars in "The Proposal" as a book executive who fakes an engagement to her lowly assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to avoid deportation to her native Canada. Inevitable hilarity ensues when she meets his parents. Reviews were mixed at best.

She last went to No. 1 in 1999 with "Forces of Nature," which co-starred Ben Affleck. Her most recent wide releases, 2007's "Premonition" and 2006's "The Lake House," ended their runs with about $50 million each. She generally does better with romantic comedies such as "Miss Congeniality" ($107 million) and "Two Weeks Notice" ($93 million).

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Eagle Eye - on the overseas prize?

Eagle Eye is a 2008 action/thriller film directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller into carrying out the plot of an artificial intelligence system gone bad. The film has been released in regular 35mm theatres and IMAX theatres.

As a batch of less-than-blockbuster titles vie for attention during the postsummer downswing at the overseas boxoffice, Paramount's "Eagle Eye," Universal's "Burn After Reading" and Fox's "Max Payne" were among newcomers displaying moderate promise in early dates.

"Eagle Eye," the action thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, took command of the international market with a weekend score of $11.1 million from 3,483 screens in 42 markets, its advance largely due to seven new openings led by a pair of No. 2 bows in Japan ($2.5 million from 306 screens) and the U.K. ($1.9 million from 361).

The Coen brothers' crime comedy "Burn," a split-rights overseas release involving Universal and territorial distributors, took in $8.7 million over the weekend, with Uni markets accounting for $6.6 million from 943 screens, chiefly from No. 1 openings in the U.K. ($3.5 million from 396) and Australia ($1.3 million from 215).

"Payne," the video game turned into a crime drama, opened in 32 mostly smaller markets, racking up $6.9 million from 1,389 screens. Spain and Australia each greeted the Mark Wahlberg starrer at No. 3, with $1.2 million (301 screens) and $996,000 (194 screens), respectively.

Last week's No. 1, the Russian-language "Koltchak," released by Fox International in Russia and Ukraine, dropped to No. 2 for the weekend as it pulled in $9.3 million from 1,225 screens for an impressive two-market cume of $28.7 million.

Disney/Pixar's animated hit "WALL-E" finished in fourth, pulling in $7.3 million from 2,946 screens in 24 countries to lift its international gross to $247.1 million. The weekend take was fueled by a No. 1 opening in Italy ($3.8 million from 653) and a fourth-week hold in Germany ($1.8 million from 770 for a market cume of $19.4 million). According to Disney International, Latin America as a whole has delivered $44 million in a month, while the U.K. has chalked up $44.2 million in 12 weeks and France has come through with $27.3 million in 11 weeks. The film's overseas run concludes Dec. 5 in Japan.

Another weekend highlight saw Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," released by Warner Bros., hold on to the No. 1 box-office spot in France for a second session in a row, grossing $2.4 million from 431 screens, a drop of only 29% from its opening weekend and raising its cume to $7.4 million. "Vicky" maintained its hold in a market in which eight of the top 10 films were local-language productions. In 10th place was Universal's "Death Race," which opened to $688,617 from 148 screens as part of its overall weekend score of $2.1 million from 25 markets (cume: $23.4 million).

During the weekend, several long-distance runners reached new heights. "Mamma Mia!," with a weekend tally of $6.3 million from 3,246 screens in 46 markets, crossed the $400 million mark ($400.6 million) to become the fourth-biggest international release of 2008 behind "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" ($466 million), "The Dark Knight" ($464 million) and "Kung Fu Panda" ($418 million).

Universal's "Wanted" edged past $200 million ($201 million) as it tallied $2.8 million from 1,138 sites in 15 territories, with China contributing $6.6 million in 11 days and Japan $223 million in 30 days.

Sony's "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" became the second Adam Sandler film to cross $100 million ($100.8 million) internationally after it picked up $740,000 from 655 screens in 28 markets.

A usually crowded market saw Warners' romantic drama "Nights in Rodanthe" take in $4.2 million from 1,720 screens in 22 markets (cume: $12.5 million), with Germany welcoming the Richard Gere/Diane Lane starrer at No. 2 with $2 million from 382 screens.

Sony's "The House Bunny" earned $3.2 million from 1,375 screens in 31 markets, lifting its early international cume to $13.7 million.

Disney's talking-dog comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is charming Latin America, where it has remained in the No. 1 spot in Mexico for three weeks, taking in $1.1 million from 404 screens during the weekend for a market cume of $7.1 million. Overall, its weekend total came to $1.7 million from 915 screens in nine markets, good for a foreign cume of $15.1 million.