LOS ANGELES, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Lionsgate's action film "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" sprinted to the top of North American box office in its opening weekend, dethroning Marvel's mega-blockbuster "Avengers: Endgame" with a massive 57.02 million U.S. dollars.
Directed by Chad Stahelski and starring Keanu Reeves as the titular character, the film is the third installment in the "John Wick" franchise. The first "John Wick" opened to 14.4 million dollars in 2014 while "Chapter Two" doubled that figure by taking in 30.4 million dollars, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.
The plot follows super-assassin John Wick who returns with a 14-million-dollar price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail.
The film received an "A-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences and holds an approval rating of 89 percent on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
According to Comscore's PostTrak audience survey, the film earned a terrific 4.5 out of 5 stars. A solid 70 percent of patrons said they would "definitely recommend" to their friends and 21 percent said they would see it again in theaters.
Notably, a total of 37 percent of patrons said "Actor in the lead role" was their primary reason for seeing the film. "This is an extremely high percentage for this category and reflects Keanu Reeves popularity in this iconic role," wrote movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian at Comscore in an email to Xinhua.
Disney and Marvel's superhero film "Avengers: Endgame" moved to second place with an estimated 29.41 million dollars in its fourth weekend for a North American total of 770.8 million dollars.
The film has grossed 2.61 billion dollars worldwide to date. It's already the second biggest global release of all-time, just behind James Cameron's 2009 sci-fi film "Avatar," which brought in 2.8 billion dollars worldwide.
Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, "Avengers: Endgame" is a film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. It's the 22nd installment of the Marvel Universe franchise and purported to be the last with this star lineup. The film follows the surviving members of the Avengers and their allies who work to reverse the damage caused by Thanos in Infinity War.
Warner Bros.' animated film "Pokemon Detective Pikachu" came in third with an estimated 24.81 million dollars in its second weekend, pushing its North American total to 94 million dollars.
The film is produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, Chinese-owned Legendary Pictures and The Pokemon Company, in association with Japan's Toho Co., Ltd. in a joint venture production. Based on the Pokemon franchise created by Satoshi Tajiri and the 2016 video game Detective Pikachu, the film is the first live-action adaptation in the franchise. Directed by Rob Letterman, the film features the voice of Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu.
Universal's comedy film "A Dog's Journey" opened in fourth with an estimated 8 million dollars. Directed by Gail Mancuso, the film is based on the 2012 novel of the same name.
Distributed by United Artists Releasing in the United States, comedy film "The Hustle" finished fifth with an estimated 6.08 million dollars in its second weekend. Directed by Chris Addison, the film is a female-centered remake of the 1988 film "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."
