Slumdog crosses $200 mn mark worldwide

The milestones just keep coming for "Slumdog Millionaire": After winning eight Academy Awards, including best picture, the feel-good indie has now crossed the $200 million mark in worldwide box office.

As of yesterday afternoon, "Slumdog" had grossed nearly $217 million from theaters around the globe. It made $12 million the weekend after it dominated the February 22 Academy Awards, a healthy 43 per cent improvement over the previous weekend, and came in at No 3 behind two movies with strong built-in audiences, "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" and "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience".

By contrast, previous best-picture winner "No Country for Old Men" had a worldwide gross of just more than $162 million, while Martin Scorsese's star-studded "The Departed" from 2006 made nearly $290 million worldwide.

"Slumdog Millionaire" tells the story of an orphan who rises from the streets of Mumbai to become the biggest winner ever on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire".

Director Danny Boyle's film had a budget of about $15 million, featured no well-known stars and is partly in subtitled Hindi, but it's wowed audiences and critics alike.

Steve Gilula, co-chief operating officer for Fox Searchlight, which released "Slumdog", said he expects the movie will go past $250 million globally.

"It's extraordinary," Gilula said. "Very, very few films get past $200 million worldwide."