'Black Swan,' the much-awarded ballet thriller that landed Natalie Portman a Best Actress Oscar, opened huge in Japan last week, raking in an impressive $6.1 million. But that's not the real story here. No, the real story (via Deadline) is that those couple of million pushed the $12-million-budgeted Fox Searchlight indie to a worldwide gross of $305 million, making it one of only a handful of independent features ever to reach the massive figure.

'Swan,' which is already on DVD in the U.S., raked in over $106 million domestically and is just short of $200 million in the international market, where it continues to do gangbuster business. Japan was the last major foreign territory where 'Swan' had not opened.

It takes a perfect storm of buzz, hype, good reviews and word of mouth for an independent feature to churn up grosses comparable to a major studio hit (a pretty big hit at that), and only a few have ever broached the $300 million mark. The Hollywood Reporter lists 'Slumdog Millionaire' ($377.9 million), 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' ($368.7 million) and Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' ($611.9 million) as independently-financed features that have exceeded $300 million in earnings.

The film has been a pleasant surprise for Fox International. Buoyed by the impressive performances of 'Swan' and the animated film 'Rio' abroad, Fox's overseas arm became the first to cross the $1 billion mark this year.

Haven't checked out 'Black Swan' yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Start with the trailer below: