The Twilight Saga: Eclipse looks certain to dominate the overseas arena this weekend following an estimated $19m haul from opening days in 22 markets.

Accorinding to Summit International, the film took approximately $3.9m (122m roubles) in Russia and drew 729,785 admissions. This was more than double the opening day gross for New Moon’s $1.8m (50.5m roubles) and 313,124 admissions.

Eclipse took $3.1m (€2.6m) in Italy from 638 theatres in the third biggest launch in history, beating the €1.9m opening day of New Moon.

A $2.6m (4.7m reals) opening day in Brazil from 310 venues was sufficient to comfortably beat the 3.7m real opening day of New Moon.

Opening on July 1, Eclipse grossed $1.9m (€1.6m) in Spain from 1,014 venues following €1.08m from nighttime and midnight screenings.

The only majors that opened on June 30 were Italy, Brazil, and CIS.  Other majors including Spain, Australia and Mexico launch on July 1.

Elsewhere the third episode in the supernatural romance franchise grossed:

  • $718,000 (€587,000) in Belgium for the biggest opening day in history;
  • $300,349 (ZAR 2.3m) in South Africa and East and West African territories from 75 theatres in the biggest Wednesday opening day in South Africa. The total gross so far in South Africa stands at ZAR 2.9m;
  • $660,614 (1.045m TRY) and 126,916 admissions in Turkey from 376 for a record opening day and a 22% box office and 42% admissions climb on New Moon. This is the biggest opening day ever for a foreign film;
  • $549,846 (€448,905) in Greece from 118 screens, which was more than double the opening for New Moonand set the fifth biggest opening day of the past five seasons;
  • $1.2m (57m PHP) in the Philippines, which beat the 55m PHP set by Spider-Man 3 and becomes the biggest opening day ever;
  • $130,121 (30.4m HUF) in Hungary from 43 prints;
  • $561,631 (1.9m PLN) in Poland from 144 prints; and
  • $847,103 (5.5m NOK) in Norway; $741,944 (4.5m DKK) in Denmark from 80 venues; $741,944 (5.8m SEK) in Sweden for the biggest Wednesday opening and the second best opening day behind Harry Potter And The Order Of Phoenix; and $334,028 (€272,707) in Finland from 87 sites for the second biggest Wednesday opening behind The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King on €304,601.

Fox International’s Knight And Day has reached $13.9m and arrives in a further 13 territories this weekend, mostly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Marmaduke has scampered off to $13.5m and opens in Australia and New Zealand, whjile Our Family Wedding arrives in Spain and Germany. The latest tally for Avatar puts the sci-fi adventure on $1.986bn.

  • Disney’s Toy Story 3 has raced to $121m after less than two weeks in release. The main launches this weekend are New Zealand and Turkey.

In the coming weeks the Pixar title opens in Italy on July 7, Japan on July 10, France on July 14, the UK on July 19, Spain on July 29 and South Korea on August 5.

Latest information puts Alice In Wonderland on $688.1m and Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time on $227m.

  • DreamWorks Animations’ Shrek Forever After sits on $98.5m through PPI and will easily coast past $100m this weekend when it opens in the UK, France, Germany, South Korea and Hong Kong and five other territories. Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2 has reached $294.2m.

Universal / UPI’s Robin Hood should cross $200m and currently stands at $199.9m. Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang has grossed $56.6m and The Green Zone stands at $40.4m.

  • Sony Pictures Releasing International’s The Karate Kid stands at $24.4m and was due to open in Australia.
  • Sex And The City 2 has reached $175.8m through Warner Bros Pictures international and is winding down. The distributor lies low until the first wave of releases for Christopher Nolan’s thriller Inception on July 16. A Nightmare On Elm Street has grossed $43.8m to date.

The action comedy Killers has amassed $16.6m from 2,000 screens through Lionsgate.