Titanic

Overseas filmgoers, and consequently foreign journalists who cover the movie beat, are becoming increasingly important to Hollywood as growth of the international box office is exploding with more studios hitting overseas milestones faster.

20th Century Fox is  the latest, after Disney and Warner Bros., to reach the $1 billion overseas threshold — in little more than five months.

According to Fox, the studio’s international division crossed the  milestone for a 12th year, nine of which are consecutive.

With Disney and Warners already having crossed $1 billion last month, 2012 marks only a few years during which at least three studios reached $1 billion at the overseas box office in such a short time frame, reports Daily Variety.  It took the same three studios only slightly less time to hit that milestone in 2010, though Fox led the charge after just 30 days then, thanks to”Avatar.

So far this year, Fox earned most of its overseas income from Titanic in 3D (right), which grossed $286 million, of which more than half came from China. The studio’s Alvin and the Chipmunks 2011 threepeat earned $135 million this year bringing its total tally to $211 million.

Of the studios that have yet to cross $1 billion internationally, Sony and Universal likely will do so soon. Sony has Men in Black 3, which reached $400 million worldwide, while Universal is hoping for good things from Snow White and the Huntsman.

Paramount rounds out the majors with $646 million internationally to date.