MUMBAI: Paramount‘s Thor has claimed the weekend‘s No. 1 box-office spot on the international circuit with a gross of $83 million from about 7,250 locations in 56 overseas markets. This the year’s biggest opening weekend tally.

Director Kenneth Branagh‘s interpretation of a Stan Lee comic book opened at top spot in the UK and Ireland ($9 million from 500 situations over five days), in France ($8.1 million from 579 locales), South Korea ($5.7 million from 513 theatres), Italy ($5.5 million from 455 locations) and Spain ($5 million from 377 situations).

The film also recorded first-place openings in several smaller markets, including Taiwan ($2.1 million from 58 sites for a per-screen average of $36,206), Singapore and the Philippines. In Vietnam, the opener yielded $308,000 from 19 sites, which Paramount said was a three-day debut record for the market.

Universal‘s Fast Five, which also opened overseas last weekend (in the UK, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand) drew $45.3 million from 3,211 theatres in 14 territories taking its early foreign gross total to $81.4 million.

The film ranked No. 2 on the weekend overseas; in the U.S. and Canada opened at No. 1 on the weekend. Worldwide, the fifth sequel in the turbocharged car action franchise grossed $128.9 million.

The action film grabbed No. 1 slots in each of its 10 new overseas markets with Russia topping the pack with $11.5 million drawn from 712 sites. Other No. 1 debuts included Germany ($10.2 million from 633 spots), Austria ($1.4 million from 82 situations) and Turkey ($900,000 from 175 venues and Australia where it was on top with $4.7 million from 230 sites.

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox‘s Rio slid to the fourth position in the weekend‘s No. 3 spot with $31.7 million 10,560 locations in 67 markets. And Fox‘s Water for Elephants picked up its box-office pace offshore with a $4.7 million weekend at 1,851 screens in 23 markets.