The impressive debut makes it the biggest September opening in the continent's box office history, beating the previous record set by the original Hotel Transylvania film. The 2012 release raked in $42.5 million (£26.6 million) in its first weekend.

The sequel's haul easily beat Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro's new comedy The Intern, which enters at two with a distant $18.2 million (£11.4 million).

Last weekend's (18-20Sep15) top movie, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, slips to three, while Jake Gyllenhaal's disaster movie Everest and Johnny Depp's Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass round out the top five at four and five, respectively.