A poster of "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" (Web pic)

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- 20th Century Fox's action spy film "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" brought in an estimated 39 million U.S. dollars in its opening weekend, dethroning Stephen King's horror film "It" from the top spot at the North American box office.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" is a sequel to "Kingsman: The Secret Service" released in 2015. The film franchise is based on the "Kingsman" comic book series.

It tells the story of survivors of a secret British spy agency teaming up with their American counterparts after the world is held hostage by a new threat.

"Kingsman: The Golden Circle" currently has a 51 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ CinemaScore.

The sequel scored the fifth best September opening ever at the North American box office and earned 61 million U.S. dollars from overseas markets for a global total of 100 million U.S. dollars.

"September 2017 is turning out to be a hit-making machine as the month is poised for all-time box office greatness with less than a week to go as the dollars continue to roll in," wrote movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian at comScore in an email to Xinhua.

Warner Bros.' horror film "It" moved to the second place this weekend with an estimated 30 million U.S. dollars, pushing it's total to 266.4 million U.S. dollars after 17 days in North American theaters.

Another new comer, Warner Bros.' animated "The Lego Ninjago Movie" opened with an estimated 21.2 million U.S. dollars in the third place. It's the third installment of "The Lego Movie" franchise.

Lionsgate's action thriller film "American Assassin" landed in the fourth place with an estimated 6.2 million U.S. dollars in its second weekend.

Open Road Films' romantic comedy "Home Again" finished fifth with an estimated 3.3 million U.S. dollars in its third weekend.