WASHINGTON (AFP) - The force was with Disney as the latest Star Wars movie The Last Jedi beat out the competition to top the Christmas weekend box office, according to updated industry estimates released Tuesday.

The eighth instalment of the blockbuster space saga topped the charts in North America for a second week, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations, pulling in US$99 million (S$133 million) from Friday through Monday to rack up total earnings of US$395.6 million since it opened last weekend.

Christmas week is traditionally a time when studios flood the screens with new releases, and the Star Wars epic was trailed by three new films.

In second place was the Dwayne Johnson family adventure Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle which made US$55.4 million for Sony over the same four-day period.

Pitch Perfect 3, which follows the continuing adventures of glee singers the Bellas, led by Anna Kendrick, was in third, earning US$26.5 million for Universal.

That was followed by The Greatest Showman, a musical in which Hugh Jackman plays the legendary circus impresario P.T. Barnum. That earned US$14 million.

Animated feature Ferdinand, the story of a pacifist bull forced to face down the greatest bullfighter in the world, was fifth. It netted four-day receipts of US$9.6 million in the United States and Canada in its second week.

Rounding out the top ten were:

Coco (US$8.1 million)

Downsizing (US$7.6 million)

Darkest Hour (US$5.5 million)

Father Figures (US$5.4 million)

The Shape of Water (US$4.3 million)