Bourne dominates US box office

SPH Brightcove Video
After a nine year hiatus, Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne who has cleverly climbed the box office, passing Star Trek and Bad Moms on the way up.
Matt Damon at the Premiere of Jason Bourne in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 18. PHOTO: AFP

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Matt Damon's Jason Bourne spy thriller is dominating box offices, taking in a third of all North American receipts in its opening weekend.

The film, the fifth in Universal's robust series about a former CIA assassin plagued by amnesia, netted US$60 million (S$80.6 million) for the three-day weekend, according to preliminary figures from industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Bourne - whose director Paul Greengrass had for years insisted he was done with the series - seized the box-office lead from Star Trek Beyond, which took in US$24 million for a two-week total of US$105.7 million.

That Justin Lin science-fiction adventure, which sees the USS Enterprise crew shipwrecked on a hostile planet, netted less than half its own opening of the previous weekend.

The raunchy comedy Bad Moms, about three overstressed and overstretched mothers with dreams of escape, came in third in its opening weekend, taking in US$23.4 million. The STX Entertainment film stars Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell.

Universal Pictures' The Secret Life of Pets came in fourth, netting US$18.2 million for an impressive four-week total of US$296.1 million. ComScore reports it has taken in nearly US$400 million worldwide.

The animated comedy, which follows two pet dogs let loose in New York City, features the voices of comedian Louis CK and actor Eric Stonestreet.

And Lights Out, David F. Sandberg's campy "no-budget" horror film about a haunting by a mysterious creature seen only in the dark, slipped from third to fifth, with US$10.8 million. The Warner Bros. film, a feature-length version of an earlier three-minute short, again stars Sandberg's wife, Lotta Losten.

Rounding out the top 10 films of the weekend were: - Ice Age: Collision Course (US$10.5 million) - Ghostbusters (US$9.8 million) - Nerve (US$9 million in its debut week) - Finding Dory (US$4.2 million) - The Legend of Tarzan (US$2.4 million).

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