While Paramount Pictures curses their box office tallies and blames Tom Cruise, I can think of one other studio who is toasting their good fortune right about now. Sony Pictures Releasing International has already made $1 billion overseas in 2006, shattering their previous records.

According to Sony Pictures Entertainment, they hit the profitable mark on Thursday. This is the sixth time that the studio has surpassed $1 billion from international box office receipts, and they have a lot of self-praise to share. Says Paul Smith, President of Worldwide Theatrical Operations, "This is a marvelous achievement for any studio. Our filmmakers really delivered the goods and were committed to making the extra effort to promote their titles overseas, which is critical in this ultra competitive environment."

President of Distribution, Mark Zucker adds, "It's been an excellent year so far, and considering the strength of our upcoming releases, I expect 2006 will end as SPRI's best year ever."

Their biggest winner this year is the The Da Vinci Code, which has generated more than $535 million overseas. Even though it wasn’t a good movie, people went to theaters in hordes and showed their love to Dan Brown. Fun with Dick and Jane and Memoirs of a Geisha also made respectable numbers.

Congratulations to Sony for their success. May I suggest a sizeable donation to CinemaBlend for reporting this story? Hey, it was worth a shot.