The Social Network gets its first real test at the international box office this weekend, opening in France, Spain and the UK. The expansion will see the Facebook drama tussling with Despicable Me, Eat Pray Love and Legendof the Guardians for international audiences.

Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI), which last weekend opened The Social Network in Germany (where it ranked second) and four smaller markets and took $3.2m, launched the likely awards contender in France on Wednesday [13]. The Spanish and UK openings follow on Friday [15].

Also opening over a busy weekend in the UK is Universal/UPI’s Despicable Me. The animated comedy, which debuted top in France and Spain last weekend and by Thursday had reached $142.9m internationally, will be looking for another good take from its Friday openings in the UK and Italy.

Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga’Hoole, from Warner Bros Pictures International (WBPI), with $26.1m internationally as of Monday [11], opened in Germany on Thursday [14].

SPRI’s Eat Pray Love, last weekend’s international leader, has no new major territory openings this weekend.

A handful of other US studio films open in individual international markets over the weekend.

Fox International’s Vampires Suck, which as of Monday had earned $29.9m outside North America, joins the UK fray on Friday.

The same studio’s Ramona and Beezus, with $152,007 internationally so far, arrived in Germany on Thursday.

Also arriving in Germany on Thursday is SPRI’s The Other Guys, which has so far done $28m internationally.

Fox’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which has so far amassed $39m internationally, opens in China on Friday.

WBPI’s The Town opened in Australia on Thursday, having accumulated $19m internationally as of Monday.

Australia also gets SPRI’s Resident Evil: Afterlife, whose international total (including non-SPRI markets) now tops $200m, on Thursday.

DreamWorks’ Dinner for Schmucks, which reached $11m internationally on Thursday, opens in Mexico on Friday through Paramount Pictures International.

Fox’s Avatar Special Edition also hits Mexico, as well as Japan and Brazil, on Friday. The special edition re-release had, as of Monday, pushed Avatar’s international take to $2.02bn.

Local Fox pick-up Yaroslav opened in Russia, its first market, on Thursday.

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