LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The fourth installment of the smash hit Transformers franchise topped the North American box office on its opening weekend, industry data showed on Monday.

Some bad reviews did not keep Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction - a massive-budget morphing robots epic - from becoming the first movie of the year to open with US$100 million (S$124.6 million) on the domestic front, according to industry monitor Exhibitor Relations.

This chapter, which stars Mark Wahlberg, sees a powerful group of scientists scrambling to break new tech barriers.

Buddy comedy 22 Jump Street, featuring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, meanwhile pulled in US$15.8 million in second place, for a total of US$139.8 million after three weeks in theaters.

Another blockbuster summer sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, was third with US$13.2 million over the weekend, Exhibitor Relations said.

Comedy sequel Think Like A Man Too earned fourth place with US$10.3 million, bringing its total receipts to US$48.1 million after two weeks on the silver screen.

Holding steady in fifth place was Angelina Jolie's Maleficent, a modern retelling of the life of Sleeping Beauty's arch-nemesis, with US$8.4 million for the weekend.

Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood's film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical about the 1960s rise to pop success of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, was in sixth place at US$7.7 million.

Falling to seventh 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. It took in US$5.4 million.

In the eighth spot 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$5.1 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were action blockbuster X-Men: Days of Future Past ($3.3 million), and indie feel-good food-truck comedy Chef ($1.7 million).