UPDATE, writethru: Just days after Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman rounded the five-century mark globally, it is now just shy of $600M worldwide in its third weekend. A $49.1M overseas frame (down 46% versus last session) brings the international box office cume on the Matt Reeves-directed pic to $298M, with global standing at $598.1M through Sunday.

Gotham’s vigilante hero is eyeing an ultimate worldwide total north of $750M, and that will be without a significant boost from China where The Batman bowed this weekend. The opening there took the No. 1 slot with an estimated RMB 76.7M ($12.1M), including $2M from IMAX. This is the best PRC opening for Hollywood in 2022, but is not a number that incites excitement. However, as we have noted since last Sunday and beyond, the launch was expected to be inauspicious amid a Covid spike that has increasingly hit the market. Approximately 43% of cinemas are now temporarily closed, including in Shanghai and Shenzhen, among the top areas for imported films.

As we also noted coming into the weekend, the movie has strong social mojo in China with a 9 on ticketing platform Maoyan — a figure that did not shift across the frame. However, Maoyan has reduced its prediction for the full run to RMB 166.7M ($26.2M).

Given the lukewarm reception to Hollywood movies in China over the past several months, it would have been nice to see how The Batman performed had the market been firing on all cylinders. But even without a China boost, The Batman will be just fine. To wit: in like-for-likes at today’s rates, the overseas total is tracking ahead of Justice League by 9% (a title that did over $106M in China), 22% above Wonder Woman (which did $90M+ in China) and 54% over Godzilla Vs Kong (which did $189M in China). Each of those movies also had substantially shorter runtimes.

Week-on-week holds are still very strong in many markets including Germany (-28%), France (-32%), Brazil (-40%), Australia (-43%), and Mexico (-45%). The Top 5 markets to date are the UK ($43.7M), Mexico ($24.7M), Australia ($21.3M), Brazil ($18.2M) and France ($17.3M).

IMAX deserves a special shout-out this weekend for topping $10B worldwide from narrative, non-documentary feature releases. On The Batman, it’s at nearly $50M global.

Sony’s Uncharted also hit a new milestone, crossing $200M overseas with a $19M sixth weekend, lifting the cume to $211.4M for $337.3M global. The biggest play this frame was China where the Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg-starrer opened last Monday (March 14). The debut was $10.4M; as noted above, 43% of cinemas are now closed due to a Covid surge. The Top 5 markets overall are the UK ($30.6M), France ($17.8M), Germany ($12.2M), Australia ($12M) and Spain ($12M).

Meanwhile, there was some new action offshore, even in in early release. Universal/DreamWorks’ animated The Bad Guys started off in 25 markets as Easter breaks begin, and bagged $8.5M. Spain had a particularly strong bow, with $1.7M to knock The Batman off his No. 1 perch and tying Encanto for the best animated start of the pandemic. Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Colombia and Singapore all were No. 2 starts. Italy, Australia, the UK, France and Korea are all on deck through early May with Japan going in October.

Also new from Universal, Michael Bay’s Ambulance got rolling in 35 markets including Mexico and the Middle East. The $4.4M early start was on par with Wrath Of Man and The King’s Man. Saudi Arabia led play with $975K; its Thursday start of $400K was the third best for an action and non-superhero pic of the pandemic. Coming up this week are such majors as France, Italy, Brazil, the UK, Germany and Japan. With travel restrictions now easing, talent is doing the rounds on this one and was in Paris last night for a premiere.

Uni/Illumination’s Sing 2 took a 45% dip in its 9th weekend of overseas release and traveled to Japan for the first time. The full session was $6.1M in 68 markets, including $4.3M at No. 1 out of Japan and with the 2nd biggest opening day for Hollywood in 2022. The international cume for Buster and the troupe is $218M with global at $376.5M.
 
Next weekend, Ambulance expands while the mega-anticipated Tollywood epic RRR (Rise Roar Revolt) hits India, North America, Australia, the UK and the Middle East. This will also be the widest release ever of an Indian film in IMAX. This is ahead of Sony’s Morbius going wide the following week and Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 starting early offshore rollout.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Toho/VAR): $4.4M intl weekend (9 markets); $127M intl cume/$144.7M global
Turning Red (DIS): $2.8M intl weekend (12 markets); $8.4M intl cume
Death On The Nile (DIS): $1.6M intl weekend (31 markets); $87.1M Intl cume/$130.7M global
Dog (MGM/VAR): $1.6M intl weekend (18 markets); $$10.5M intl cume/$64.8M global
Spider-Man: No Way Home (SNY): $1.5M intl weekend (59 markets); $1.087B intl cume/$1.884B global
Belfast (UNI): $1.2M intl weekend (43 markets); $33.7M intl cume/$42.7M global
Jackass Forever (PAR): $1.1M intl weekend (19 markets); $20.7M intl cume/$77.5M global
Clifford The Big Red Dog (PAR): $332K intl weekend (26 markets); $58.4M intl cume/$107.3M global