UPDATE, FRIDAY: Zooming in 29 offshore markets, Disney/Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 has amassed $22.3M at the international box office through Thursday. After bowing with $6.6M on Tuesday in just three hubs (which each had holidays), GOTG2 moved into a further nine on Wednesday — notably France — and then 17 more yesterday (including Germany and Brazil). The scores are showing the ragtag space family running considerably ahead of the original Guardians Of The Galaxy, as well as other Marvel Cinematic Universe sequels, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World.

Australia currently leads offshore with $6.2M after bowing on Tuesday’s Anzac holiday. France, which chimed in on Wednesday, is at $2.7M; Italy (also a Tuesday bow) has plunked down $2M so far; Germany joined the fun yesterday with $1.5M; and Brazil also got in on the action Thursday with $1.2M. Those are the Top 5 markets on the James Gunn-helmed pic thus far.

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The initial numbers have been somewhat bolstered by the Australia/New Zealand and Italy holiday Tuesdays, and the position versus comps will begin to clarify as more markets experience regular play. In the same hubs where GOTG2 is debuting this weekend, the first film grossed around $65M at current exchange rates. Thor: The Dark World bowed to $85.4M and Captain America: The Winter Soldier to $67.6M, also at today’s exchange. This one will go higher than all three (and it’s notable that in some markets, it’s opened bigger than Captain America: Civil War).

Here’s a look at how yesterday’s play breaks down:

Germany‘s opening day was $1.5M at No. 1 with 66% market share for the 2nd biggest start of the year, behind Fate Of The Furious. That was 29% ahead of Guardians Of The Galaxy, 21% ahead of The Avengers and 30% ahead of Captain America: Civil War.

Brazil‘s launch was $1.2M for No. 1 and a huge +95% on GOTG.

The Netherlands blasted off to $500K, the No. 1 start of 2017 and the 2nd highest MCU opening day ever behind only Civil War (+83% vs GOTG).

Taiwan grossed $600K for +78% on GOTG; Hong Kong was $300K at 24% over GOTG; and Singapore also rocked in with $300K for 14% above GOTG.

Austria took in $200K at No. 1; 2nd biggest MCU debut behind Iron Man 3; +51% on GOTG.

There are another host of markets opening today, including the UK, Spain and Mexico. We’ll have an update on those tomorrow.

PREVIOUS, WEDNESDAY: Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 rocketed into its first three markets on Tuesday, taking advantage of local holidays to get the ball rolling at the international box office. The total from Australia, Italy and New Zealand is $6.6M.

Pressing play on the second Awesome Mixtape in Australia, the James Gunn-helmed film bowed at No. 1 to an estimated $2.9M. That’s the second-biggest opening day ever for a Marvel Cinematic Universe release — behind only The Avengers — and is more than three times bigger than the start of the original Guardians of the Galaxy (which debuted on a non-holiday in 2014). Adding in successful Monday night previews ahead of Tuesday’s Anzac holiday, the Oz cume is $4.5M.

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In Italy, GOTG2 also was No. 1, this time on Liberation Day, with an estimated $1.4M. The launch is the third-best for an MCU title and was more than triple the openings of GOTG and Doctor Strange (again, non-holiday opening days). It also was 29% ahead of Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, 23% ahead of Captain America: Civil War, 15% ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron and 1% above Suicide Squad, none of which bowed on a holiday.

New Zealand, also celebrating Anzac, scored $400K for the top opening day of 2017 and the third-highest opening day ever for the MCU. It’s bigger than both Ultron and Civil War (the non-holiday caveat stands here too). With Monday night previews, the cume rises to $700K.

The ragtag bunch of Guardians — which includes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and now Kurt Russell — is looking at a launch weekend internationally in the $100M range, and some see higher. While the initial numbers out of the three markets above are extremely encouraging, Disney reminds us that they all were holiday plays.

GOTG2 will be in 37 material markets this weekend. Today it adds France along with Belgium, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Domestic and the rest of the world, including China but not yet Japan, catch up the following frame.