LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Disney's "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" took the number one spot at the North American box office with 36 million U.S. dollars in its opening weekend.
The fantasy adventure film with a reported 185 million dollars production cost is a sequel to the 2014's "Maleficent" inspired by Charles Perrault's original fairy tale and Walt Disney's animated film "Sleeping Beauty." Directed by Joachim Ronning with Angelina Jolie returning to portray the title role, the film picks up several years after "Maleficent," in which audiences learned of the events that hardened the heart of Disney's most notorious villain and drove her to curse a baby Princess Aurora.
"Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" brought in 117 million dollars in international markets for a 153-million-dollar global debut, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.
The film received a strong "A" rating from moviegoers on CinemaScore and a 41-percent certified fresh rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to date.
Warner Bros.' thriller film "Joker" slid to second place with 29.2 million dollars in its third weekend, pushing its North American cume to 247.22 million dollars for a global total of 737.5 million dollars through Sunday.
Based on DC Comics characters, "Joker" is directed by Todd Phillips and stars Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role. The film follows the devolution of Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill failed stand-up comedian who turns into the killer-clown Joker.
Sony's zombie comedy film "Zombieland: Double Tap" opened in third place with 26.72 million dollars. Directed by Ruben Fleischer and stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone, the film is a sequel to 2009's "Zombieland."
United Artists Releasing's animated family-friendly comedy "The Addams Family" took in 16.05 million dollars in fourth place in its second weekend for a North American cume of 56.8 million dollars. The film, directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan, is based on the comics of the same name by Charles Addams.
Three-time Oscar award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee's action film "Gemini Man" finished fifth with 8.5 million dollars in its second weekend for a North American total of 36.51 million dollars. The VFX-heavy film starring Will Smith follows Henry Brogan, an aging government assassin, who is suddenly targeted and pursued by a mysterious young operative that seemingly can predict his every move.
"Gemini Man" is distributed by Paramount Pictures in North America. It was produced by Skydance, in association with China's Fosun Pictures. Fosun Pictures and Alibaba Pictures are the co-financiers of the film. Enditem
