LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Sony's action comedy "Bad Boys For Life" led ticket sales at the North American box office with a better-than-expected 59.17 million U.S. dollars in its opening weekend, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.
The three-day performance is the second biggest January three-day debut in North America, only behind biographical war drama film "American Sniper" which earned 89.26 million dollars over the Friday-Sunday weekend in 2015.
"Bad Boys for Life," with a reported production budget of 90 million dollars, is the third installment in the hugely successful Bad Boys franchise, the sequel to 2003's "Bad Boys 2" and 1995's "Bad Boys." Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the film stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in their roles as Miami detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett as they are back together for one last ride.
The film has grossed 37.3 million dollars in other territories through Sunday.
"Bad Boys For Life" receives a positive "A" rating from moviegoers on CinemaScore and holds an approval rating of 76 percent on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes to date.
Universal's fantasy adventure film "Dolittle" opened in the second place with 22.5 million dollars this weekend in North America for a global cume of 49.8 million dollars through Sunday.
Directed by Stephen Gaghan and starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, the film is a reboot of the Doctor Dolittle films. The plot follows the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle, a famed doctor and veterinarian of Queen Victoria's England, who is forced to set sail on an epic adventure to a mythical island in search of a cure for Queen Victoria, regaining his wit and courage as he crosses old adversaries and encounters wondrous creatures.
Universal's World War I epic "1917" came in third with 22.1 million in its fourth weekend for a North American total of 76.8 million dollars through Sunday. The acclaimed film won a global box office success of 138.7 million dollars to date, fueled by its strong performance in this Hollywood awards season, including Golden Globes' best drama and best director.
Directed and co-written by Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning director of "American Beauty" and James Bond films "Skyfall," the film chronicles the story of two young British soldiers during World War I who are given a seemingly impossible mission, racing against time to cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on 1,600 soldiers.
Sony's fantasy adventure comedy film "Jumanji: The Next Level" landed in fourth with 9.56 million dollars in its sixth weekend, pushing its North American total to 270.5 million dollars for a global cume of 708 million dollars.
Directed by Jake Kasdan and based on the book "Jumanji" by Chris Van Allsburg, the film is the second sequel to "Jumanji" in 1995, following "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" in 2017. In the latest follow-up, starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan, the gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own, the players will have to brave parts unknown and unexplored, from the arid deserts to the snowy mountains, in order to escape the world's most dangerous game.
Disney and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" finished fifth with 8.4 million dollars in its fifth weekend for a North American cume of 492 million dollars. The film has grossed 1.02 billion dollars worldwide to date, becoming Disney's seventh billion-dollar film of 2019.
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following "The Force Awakens" in 2015 and "The Last Jedi" in 2017, and the final installment of nine Star Wars saga films.
