Box Office: ‘Maleficent’ Doubles ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’s’ Opening Day in U.K

“Maleficent” reigns supreme in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where the Walt Disney Studios fantasy opened in the top slot Wednesday on its first day of release.

The fantasy epic stars Angelina Jolie and centers on the origins of the wicked sorceress from “Sleeping Beauty,” dramatizing her fall from grace.

Audiences across the pond were eager to find out what turned Maleficent bad, contributing $2.5 million in ticket sales, and topping what “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” did on its first day of release in those countries. It was more than double the debuts of similar fantasy fare such as “Oz The Great and Powerful” and “Snow White and The Huntsman.”

“Maleficent” opens domestically Thursday in select screenings before rolling out across nearly 4,000 locations. It also debuts day-and-date in 47 territories and across 13,011 locations, including such markets as France, Australia, Spain and Mexico.

The film opened Wednesday in Italy and the Philippines where it became the biggest opening day in Jolie’s career in those territories. However, Disney did not provide box office grosses for those countries, making the extent of that accomplishment difficult to quantify.

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