Disney's female-skewing fairy tale Maleficent cast a powerful spell on the U.K. and Irish box office, where it opened to a stellar $2.5 million on Wednesday.

That's ahead of the first-day earnings of fellow Disney release Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and marks the biggest opening day ever for Angelina Jolie in those markets, as well as in Italy and the Philippines.

Even more promising, Maleficent did more than double the business of Oz the Great and Powerful in the U.K. and Ireland.
Maleficent opens in every major territory this weekend save for China and Japan, as well as in North America, where it is expected to top the chart with a debut in the $60 million range.

Maleficent added $59.7 million from 52 markets in its second weekend overseas, bringing the live-action Disney film's overseas total up to $208.1 million after only two frames. Mexico is leading the overseas markets with a $30 million cume, double the lifetime gross of Oz: The Great and Powerful in the market. Other top performers for the film include Russia ($24.1M), UK ($18.8M), Brazil ($12.8M), and Italy ($12.2M).

Maleficent is Angelina Jolie's third highest grossing film of all time at the overseas box office, trailing only Mr. and Mrs. Smith ($292M) and The Tourist ($211M). It is on track to pass both those titles later in its run with upcoming releases scheduled for China (June 20) and Japan (July 4). Maleficnet has grossed a total of $335.47 million worldwide.

Maleficent conjured up another $37.2 million from 53 territories during its third weekend overseas. The Angelina Jolie film is now up to $272.9 million outside of North America and has grossed a strong $436.4 million globally. Top markets for the Disney film include a surprisingly robust $36 million from Mexico, $32.2 million from Russia, $22.7 million from the UK, and $18.6 million from Brazil. Maleficent expands to China next weekend.