EXCLUSIVE: Sony/Seven Bucks/Matt Tolmach Productions Jumanji: The Next Level is closing in on its predecessor, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle. With a $548.8M worldwide gross through January 2, the Dwayne Johnson-starrer now counts $209.7M domestic and $339.1M from the international box office. Comparatively at the same time in release, Next Level is slightly ahead (+3%) of the previous installment overseas and when excluding China. Including the Middle Kingdom, the latest Jake Kasdan-directed adventure is down by about 5%.

The film came on strong last weekend with just a 1% overseas drop and following muscular mid-week business in the Christmas corridor. Along with Disney/Lucasfilms Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker ($423M international/$840M global through Thursday), it remains a Top 2 choice in most key markets and is still to roll into Brazil later this month.

The biggest market thus far for Next Level is China with $41.1M (down from Jungles $78M with softer word of mouth in whats been a slower year for Hollywood fare), followed by the UK ($33.37M), France ($20.66M), Germany ($16.57M) and Indonesia ($15.1M). All figures are through Thursday. Domestically, The Next Level exceeded opening expectations in mid-December and should be at $234M by Sunday.

The 2017 Welcome To The Jungle, which acted as strong counterprogramming to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, counted China, the UK, Australia, France and Russia as its top overseas markets, playing to a very high multiple as it continued to beat the drum for weeks until its offshore final of $557.6M and $962.1M global (at historic rates).

The star-studded IP also features Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Awkwafina, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, SerDarius Blain and Madison Iseman, with Danny Glover and Danny DeVito.

The film kickstarted its global publicity tour in late November with a Latin America/Australasian media event in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. There was also a three-city European tour.

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Jumanji: The Next Level Rocks To $550M WW, Closing Offshore Gap With Welcome To The Jungle - Deadline