Disney’s Beauty And The Beast took its first bow in France yesterday, grossing $1.3 million ($1.8M including previews). The No. 1 start is the second best of 2017, behind only Fifty Shades Darker. It was more than double that of both Cinderella and Maleficent, and slightly down on the debut of The Jungle Book during Easter holidays last year.

The movie’s international box office through Wednesday is $244.3M for a global cume of $461.9M and on the way to $500M by week’s end.

The international haul Wednesday totaled $21.9M, representing 12% of the weekend. The Jungle Book’s first Wednesday last year repped 10% of its initial wide offshore frame.

BATB also opened No. 1 in Belgium on Wednesday with 70% of the market for the biggest bow of 2017. That’s more than double The Jungle Book and comes in ahead of the launches of Cinderella and Maleficent.

The biggest market yesterday was again China with $3.6M ($57.2M to date), followed by the UK with $2.8M ($32.1M to date). The UK Wednesday was on par with Tuesday with no visible sign that the attack at Westminster had an impact on box office.

Mexico is currently the No. 3 overseas hub for Belle and the gang at $17.6M ($1M Wed), followed by Brazil at $15.9M ($2.1M Wed) and Korea with $14.6M to date ($900K Wed) to round out the Top 5.

Spain saw a good bump on Wednesday with $1.2M for an $8.3M running cume, and Italy also scored seven figures with $1.1M to bring the total so far to $10.5M.

Australia moves into the castle today.