Fault In Our Stars soars at North American box office

Cinema still: The Fault In Our Stars. -- PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX
Cinema still: The Fault In Our Stars. -- PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Romantic drama The Fault In Our Stars - a love story about teenagers who meet at a cancer support group - soared at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The movie, based on a popular young adult novel by John Green, raked in US$48.2 million (S$60.3 million) in its opening weekend, pushing last week's number one Maleficent down to the number two slot.

Maleficent - starring and produced by megastar Angelina Jolie - is a modern retelling of the life of Sleeping Beauty's arch-nemesis.

The wicked witch who has haunted generations of children earned a still impressive US$33.5 million in its second weekend in theatres, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said.

Tom Cruise roared back into the top ten with action flick Edge Of Tomorrow, in which he stars as a soldier caught in a time loop as he battles aliens. The new release earned US$29.1 million, good enough for third place.

Another time-bending movie, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, fell to fourth place with only US$14.7 million in its third weekend out.

And cowboy comedy A Million Ways To Die In The West, which stars comedian Seth MacFarlane as a sheep farmer in 1880s Arizona, sank to fifth with US$7.2 million in ticket sales.

Godzilla, which features Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston as a tortured Japanese-speaking scientist battling to save humanity, was in sixth with just under US$6 million.

And Neighbors starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as a couple living next door to a raucous fraternity house, earned just under US$5.2 million and landed in seventh.

Romantic comedy Blended, featuring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, scored US$4.1 million in ticket sales for eighth place, ahead of foodie flick The Chef, the story of a restless chef who takes his talents on the road in a food truck. It improved on last week's take to earn US$2.6 million in night place.

And rounding out the top ten, comic-book favourite The Amazing Spider-Man 2 earned US$1.9 million.

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