Refresh for latest…: Lots of moving parts at the international box office again this weekend as early rollout of another major studio title is kickstarting into business prior to its domestic debut. To wit: Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore made its first apparition in 22 offshore markets this frame, grossing $58M to lead overseas turnstiles before it heads to North America in the coming week. Meanwhile, Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2, which already had a strong launch in key offshore hubs last frame, is on a tear. The Jeff Fowler-directed sequel added $37M internationally this weekend, and with the $71M North America debut, landed as the global No. 1 movie this session. Factoring in last weekend, Sonic’s international cume is $70M for a $141M running global total.

Also notable, and before we dig into details on the above and more, S.S. Rajamouli’s phenom RRR crossed the 1,000 crore ($132M) mark worldwide over the weekend to become the No. 3 Indian film of all time globally.

More from Deadline

In other news, Sony’s Morbius saw a 62% drop from its international debut last frame. The origin story about an obscure character that plays like a vampire movie should be fine; Sony kept the budget low at an estimated $75M before P&A. The offshore weekend was $15M to lift international to $69.3M. Globally, the vampire is at $126.4M.

Turning back to new entry, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore, the threequel had magical starts in Germany ($9.4M/best for WB since Joker) and Japan ($8.6M). No. 1 bows were also seen in the UK ($8M), Australia ($3.9M) and Spain ($3.1M) among top plays.

Coming into the weekend, we knew that this installment would not hit the heights of its predecessors given the drag from China where about half of cinemas are closed and where the previous two entries saw about a third of their opening grosses. Ultimately this weekend, FBTSOD did an estimated $10M in the PRC; it had decent social scores, but currently little of that sort matters. Cinemas need to come back online and the government needs to decide what it wants.

Story continues

The movie has lots of rollout to come; and is further evidence that families are ready to come out. Note that weekdays while we’re in a super school vacation period overseas will be impactful.

As for Sonic, Paramount smartly jockeyed a week early so as to not get caught under FB’s spell and has helped prove the family market (and more) is there.This little blue critter made No. 1s in such key plays as bMexico (6.3M), Brazil and ($3.4M) and Italy ($1.7M), notably. And there’s still lots of play in holdovers. The UK has grossed $14M, France $9M.

More…

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.