LOS ANGELES (AFP) - 22 Jump Street leapt straight in at the top of the North American box office, industry estimates showed on Sunday, edging out How To Train Your Dragon 2 as the summer film season gets into full swing.
R-rated comedy 22 Jump Street raked in US$60 million on its debut weekend, compared with $50 million for Dragon, another blockbuster sequel whose release had been similarly eagerly anticipated.
Dragon reunites the main characters from 2010's first film but adds a host of new colourful flame-breathing beasts in a 3D spectacular that DreamWorks Animation hopes will captivate family filmgoers.
The first Dragon installment earned $495 million and two Oscar nominations, and the 3D sequel was enthusiastically received at this year's Cannes Film Festival last month.
Jump Street, meanwhile, has Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum back together as an unlikely pair of undercover drug agents, two years after 21 Jump Street brought the original TV series to the big screen.
Third over the weekend, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations, was Angelina Jolie's Maleficent, a modern retelling of the life of Sleeping Beauty's arch-nemesis.
The wicked witch who has haunted generations of children pulled in US$19 million, for US$163.5 million in its three weeks since release, in a flick that not only casts Jolie in the title role, but was also produced by the megastar.
Next up was Tom Cruise's latest action movie, Edge Of Tomorrow, in which he stars as a soldier caught in a time loop as he battles aliens, with US$16.2 million, for a two-week total of US$56.6 million.
Fifth over the weekend was romantic drama The Fault In Our Stars, based on a popular young adult novel by John Green about teenagers who meet at a cancer support group. It earned US$15.7 million in its second week.
Next was another time-bending movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past, which is slowly slipping down the box-office charts. It made US$9.5 million for a whopping US$205.9 million since release.
Seventh was another timeless blockbuster, the classic monster flick Godzilla, with US$3.2 million over the weekend and US$191.3 million in total.
Completing the top 10 was cowboy comedy A Million Ways To Die In The West (US$3.1 million), raunchy comedy Neighbors (US$2.5 million) and foodie flick Chef (US$2.2 million).
