(FORTUNE Magazine) – Chuck and Di were there. So were stars Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski, and the paparazzi. It was the royal premiere of Paramount's ''Crocodile'' Dundee II at London's vast Empire Theatre Leicester Square, and the gala sent Croc II off to the biggest first-week ticket sales in European history. Audiences worldwide have always loved American movies, and these days they love them more than ever. Helped by a softer dollar, studios in the Motion Picture Export Association of America reported foreign rental revenues of $935 million last year, up 17% over the previous year. The industry produces a thumping U.S. trade surplus. Japan is Hollywood's biggest customer ($138 million), followed by France, West Germany, Canada, and Britain. Says the chief of a major studio: ''There is hardly a country in which we don't have close to 50% of the local market. We export our culture to the world.'' Why the boom? Besides the weaker dollar, many of the same forces stimulating the U.S. box office are beginning to boost ticket sales abroad. Better movies are an important factor, since blockbusters in the States tend to be megahits around the world. New multiplex cinemas are going up in Australia, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Britain. Further demand comes from movement toward private TV stations in Britain, Italy, France, and West Germany, and pay TV channels such as Canal Plus of France. The best Hollywood executives consider the international market from the moment they look at a script. ''It's critical to see whether a movie project has foreign potential,'' says a studio chief. The major studios often favor movies with a foreign setting or major international cast. Croc II was filmed Down Under and in New York and stars the world's most famous Aussie. Sean Connery, Scottish born and internationally popular, will play Indiana Jones's father in an upcoming Paramount film. Paramount is also shooting a movie in which Michael Douglas portrays an American cop chasing a Japanese crook in Tokyo. Movies with foreign potential often carry bigger budgets, reflecting the cost of location shooting overseas. Marketing movies in disparate cultures can be tricky. ''A social comedy about an American summer camp is less likely to translate -- except in Scandinavia,'' observes Michael Williams-Jones, CEO of United International Pictures, a joint venture of Paramount, MCA's Universal, and MGM/UA. English- language films are almost always dubbed in France, West Germany, Italy, and Spain, although some American movies run untouched or subtitled on the Champs Elysees. Films in just about every other part of the world are subtitled; by law, movies must be subtitled in Mexico. Before deciding to see a picture, Japanese moviegoers seek more information about a film's elements than other international audiences do. Posters in Japan give away plot details, coming just short of revealing that the butler did it. Raves in the U.S. can give an international picture a marketing lift. Most releases overseas occur up to six months after a film debuts in America. Last year Paramount delayed the foreign opening of Children of a Lesser God. Betting that the film would receive numerous Oscar nominations, the studio timed its release until the Academy Awards ceremony. After Marlee Matlin picked up the best-actress Oscar, the studio dispatched the hearing-impaired star on a worldwide promotional tour. The strategy paid off: Children of a Lesser God grossed around $50 million abroad, 50% more than its U.S. performance.