LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- American slasher film "Happy Death Day" took the top spot at North American box office in its opening weekend with an estimated 26.5 million U.S. dollars, showing the latest success of horror genre this year.
Directed by Christopher B. Landon and made on only 5-million-dollar budget, the latest from Blumhouse and Universal follows a college student who is murdered on her birthday, and who then begins reliving the day over and over again until she finds out the killer finally.
"In the tradition of 2017's horror movie gold rush, 'Happy Death Day' exceeded expectations with an impressive debut," wrote movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian at comScore in an email to Xinhua.
"The modestly budgeted horror flick got above average marks for the genre from audiences earning nearly 4 out of 5 stars in our PostTrak audience survey that also showed a younger crowd (61 percent under 25) of females (57 percent of the overall audience) that came out to support the movie," Dergarabedian added.
American science fiction film "Blade Runner 2049" moved to the second place with an estimated 15.1 million dollars in its second weekend. The sequel to the 1982 science fiction classic was co-financed by Alcon Entertainment and Sony with Warner Bros. handling domestic distribution and Sony releasing the film overseas.
"Blade Runner 2049" has earned more than 60.5 million dollars in total after 10 days in North American theaters.
STX's Action thriller film "The Foreigner" stars Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan opened in third place with an estimated 12.8 million dollars. Directed by Martin Campbell, the film follows a businessman who seeks revenge for the death of his daughter. It was released in China on Sept. 30.
Warner Bros.' horror film "It" landed in the fourth place with an estimated 6 million dollars in its sixth weekend, pushing its total to 314.9 million dollars after 38 days in North American theaters.
20th Century Fox's "The Mountain Between Us" finished fifth with an estimated 5.6 million dollars in its second weekend.
