Twilight grossed $9.6m from 1,275 venues in five international territories in a significant rise from initial estimates released by Summit International over the weekend.

The vampire romance stormed to number one in Italy in the sixth biggest launch of the year on $5.8m from 601 prints and topped the charts in Mexico on $2.3m from 385 sites.

A third place debut in Sweden saw Twilight suck $341,000 from the market from 41 prints while Russia produced $928,000 from 251 prints for an unconfirmed ranking.

In Italian-speaking Switzerland the film grossed $32,000 from three prints. The French and German parts of the country will launch day-and-date with France and Germany on January 7 and 15, respectively.