Twentieth Century Fox's Marley & Me has doggedly climbed its way to the top of Screen's international box-office chart for the March 13-15 weekend, adding more than $14m from 2,559 screens in 29 markets, a 73% rise in week-on-week takings.

The film opened in nine new territories, and the UK leads the pack with a very impressive $6.2m (£4.4m) debut from 467 screens, dethroning PPI's Watchmen from the top spot.

Marley & Me also performed well in Russia, where it took $1.6m from 517 screens, debuting in second place behind local hit Love In The Big City which took $2.1m from 673 screens and sits at 16th place internationally.

Good holdover business in Germany of $2m (EUR1.6m) from 550 screens helped bolster Marley & Me's three-day tally, placing it second in the territory behind Senator's The Reader.

Marley & Me opens in a further five markets this weekend, including Japan, and will open in Italy and Norway on April 3. It has now taken $49m to date internationally.

Dragonball Evolution was the highest new international entry this week, charting in fifth position after opening in eight Asian markets, taking a total of $9.6m from 2,132 screens. The big opener was in China, where the film earned Fox its fourth best opening in the territory, taking $3.4m from 855 screens. A US adaptation of the popular sci-fi manga series, Dragonball Evolution also opened in Japan and South Korea, where it grossed $2.6m from 540 screens and $1.1m from 343 screens respectively.

The film is set to open in another 21 markets throughout April, including the North America and UK launch on April 8, with a final three territories in June.

Italian comedy La Matassa also broke into the top 10 after debuting in its home territory. The film, which stars comedy duo Ficarra and Picone, grossed a very respectable $3.8m (EUR2.8m) from 514 screens.