LOS ANGELES, Jan 26 — Sci-fi thriller Mercy starring Chris Pratt debuted atop the North American box office with US$11 million (RM43.6 million) in ticket sales, ending the five-week reign of Avatar: Fire and Ash, industry estimates showed yesterday.
Pratt plays a man on trial for murdering his wife in the Amazon MGM Studios film, with his fate in the hands of an artificial intelligence judge.
The brutal winter storm hitting a large swath of the United States cut into the weekend totals, according to David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
“Considering the extreme weather that’s closing theatres across two-thirds of the US and keeping people home, it’s a very good opening,” Gross said of Mercy.
“The final numbers may be lower on Monday after we see the effects of the cold and snow.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third instalment in James Cameron’s blockbuster fantasy series, came in second in the United States and Canada with another US$7 million, Exhibitor Relations said.
That puts its domestic box office haul at US$378.5 million, with an additional US$1 billion overseas, according to Box Office Mojo.
Disney’s Oscar-nominated animated film Zootopia 2 churned along, remaining in third place at US$5.7 million and crossing the US$400 million mark in the US and Canada.
In fourth place at US$4.2 million was Lionsgate’s The Housemaid, an adaptation of Freida McFadden’s best-selling novel about a young woman who is hired by a wealthy couple with dark secrets.
In fifth place was 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the fourth installment in the zombie horror series, at US$3.6 million.
Rounding out the top 10 are:
Marty Supreme (US$3.5 million)
Return to Silent Hill (US$3.3 million)
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (US$2 million in re-release)
Hamnet (US$2 million)
Primate (US$1.6 million) — AFP