LOS ANGELES, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Open Road Films' action thriller "Honest Thief" sprinted to the top of North American box office with 3.7 million U.S. dollars from 2,425 theaters in its second weekend.
In combination with the film's ticket sales from Canada last week, "Honest Thief" has grossed 4.2 million dollars in North America to date, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.
Directed by Mark Williams and starring Liam Neeson in the title role, the film follows a former bank robber who turns himself into authorities to start a new life after falling in love with a woman, only to be double-crossed by two ruthless FBI agents who want to devour his fortune.
"Honest Thief" holds an approval rating of 35 percent based on 40 reviews to date on review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.
The box office of "Honest Thief" is among the lowest ever to take the top spot at North America. "The War with Grandpa," the 101 Studios' family comedy film, nabbed smallest No. 1 debut weekend in 32 years in North America with 3.6 million dollars last week.
"That Honest Thief opened with 1/3 of what's expected from a Liam Neeson action movie means Hollywood was right to postpone the likes of Black Widow and No Time to Die," commented film critic Scott Mendelson for Forbes.
Some major movie markets in the United States, including Los Angeles and New York, still remain closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a long-awaited news for the industry that movie theaters outside New York City will be allowed to reopen in New York State at 25 percent capacity under state guidance starting Oct. 23.
"The War with Grandpa" moved to the second with 2.5 million dollars from 2,260 locations in its second weekend, pushing its North American total to 7.25 million dollars to date.
Directed by Tim Hill and based upon the novel of the same name by the late American children's book author Robert Kimmel Smith, the film stars two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro, among others. The plot follows a sixth-grader who works to get his grandfather to move out of his room after he moves in with his family.
Warner Bros.' sci-fi action film "Tenet" came in third with 1.6 million dollars from 2,001 locations in its eighth weekend for a North American total of 50.6 million dollars to date.
With a reported budget of more than 200 million dollars, the film, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring John David Washington, follows a secret agent as he manipulates the flow of time to prevent World War III.
The film grossed an estimated 6.6 million dollars globally this weekend in 63 markets in release for a global cume of 333.9 million dollars. The Chinese mainland is one of the biggest theatrical territories for the film with a cume of 454 million yuan (around 67.79 million U.S. dollars) to date, according to box office data compiled by Maoyan, a Chinese movie-ticketing and film data platform.
Two 1993 films from Disney, re-released in North America for Halloween, won their box office successes this weekend.
The Disney animated musical fantasy film, "The Nightmare Before Christmas," landed in fourth with 1.32 million dollars from 2,194 locations. Directed by Henry Selick, the film tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of "Halloween Town" who stumbles through a portal to "Christmas Town" and becomes obsessed with celebrating the holiday.
"Hocus Pocus," a fantasy comedy film, finished fifth with 756,000 dollars from 1,640 locations between Friday and Sunday. The film follows a villainous comedic trio of witches who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy on Halloween night. Enditem
