The Boss Baby cleared its balance sheets with a second consecutive chart-topping frame in the North American market, showing again that it has what it takes to steal the floor from Beauty and the Beast. DreamWorks and Fox’s animated infant comedy pulled $26.3 million and reached an $89.3 million domestic cume, capping off its second week with a 48% drop and once again beating Beauty, if only by a fraction of a percent. Disney’s live action darling made $25 million in its fourth week in US and Canadian theatres. Audiences are still lining up in droves to see Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as Belle and the Beast.

The only glitch in their waltz toward ten figures came from a strong international surge by Ghost in the Shell. Another coproduction from DreamWorks, along with Reliance, Shanghai Film Group, Arad Production and Paramount, this introspective Scarlett Johansson sci-fi stunner took first place overseas with $41.3 million in 54 markets. Much of this was due to a $21.4 million opening in China, where Ghost will do well to take what it can before The Fate of the Furious pulls in to tap up the market this coming Friday. While the Middle Kingdom was fairly receptive to this Asian themed and set drama, its spiritual home market, Japan, was colder in its reception. The country that spawned the multimedia series that would inspire this film only made $3.2 million for DreamWorks and Co., a disappointing opening in a territory that should’ve had a massive built in fan base. Ghost added a meager $7.3 million in its second home outing, and has reached still troubling global cumulative of $124.4 million against a $110 million budget.

Still overseas, The Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast had another set of nearly twinned weekend returns. Baby made $37.5 million in 46 territories, while Beast earned $36.1 million in 55. Among the Alec Baldwin led comedy’s biggest new admirers was the UK, where the film opened to $9.9 million. Its French cume reached $9.8 million, while the Australian total moved up to $8.8 million at the end of the weekends. Baby’s third biggest market, Mexico, made it to $12 million. Back across the Atlantic, or the Pacific for that matter, Russia, its biggest foreign territory, reached a staggering $24 million. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast meanwhile had its earnings spread across an impressive amount of wildly successful markets. Their UK total shot up to $73.2 million, the Mexican take reached $28.3 million, and its biggest market, China, crept within eyeshot of the $100 million mark at $85.3 million. While they shared a nearly identical outing around the world this weekend cumulative global earnings show a sharp divide between these two pictures. Baby now sits at $199.6 million overall, while Beauty and the Beast is perched on a lofty $977.4 million. Disney’s latest super hit is sure to pass $1 billion in days.

Back in the US the only major newcomer was Sony’s Smurfs: The Lost Village. Its unfair to say they couldn’t find the road to the box office after a $36 million global weekend, but competition from this frame’s two other family friendly behemoths certainly put Smurfs on a wide detour. Domestic receipts were hardest hit at just $14 million, while a $2.2 million Brazil launch and a $1.8 million opening in France were the highlights from a $22 million international frame. The worldwide cume for these diminutive blue 80s icons is now $56.1 million.

Looking towards next week, start buckling your seatbelts and maybe even strap on a helmet because the world film markets are set to be left in the dust by The Fate of the Furious, the eighth and final adrenaline filled chapter to Universal’s 16-year long action street racing saga.

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