LOS ANGELES, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The American fantasy adventure film "Oz The Great And Powerful" successfully fended off the attack from a pair of new openers and extended its dominance at the North American box office to another week over the weekend.
The Disney big-budget franchise re-launch, which was the largest March debut since "The Hunger Games" (2012) and "Alice in Wonderland" (2010) when it was released last weekend, is on track to garner 42.2 million U.S. dollars in tickets during the Friday- Sunday period, raising its overall North American receipt to more than 145 million dollars.
The Sam Raimi's 200 million-dollar, 3-D special effects-laden fantasy adventure film has thwarted Halle Berry's thriller film " The Call" and Steve Carell's magician comedy "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," both of which were released Friday and might challenge the reign of the "Oz The Great And Powerful" at the box office derby.
"The Call," an R-rated kidnap drama distributed by Sony's TriStar and starring Berry as a veteran 911 operator who must confront a killer from her past in order to save an abducted girl' s life, opened in 2,507 venues in the United States and Canada and fetched 17.1 million dollars in tickets, finishing at the No. 2 spot. This is a female-skewing film, as 61 percent of the moviegoers were women and 47 percent under 30 years of age. Those who have seen it gave it a "B+" CinemaScore.
"The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" came in third at 10.3 million dollars. The PG-rated comedy from Warner Bros hit the screen at 3, 160 locations but failed to sway critics and moviegoers. It has managed to nab 36 percent positive ratings on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and received a minimal "C+" CinemaScore from audiences. The movie stars Steve Carell as a Las Vegas magician who attempts to reunite with his former partner Anton Marvelton ( Steve Buscemi) to take on dangerous street magician Steve Gray ( Jim Carrey) with their own daring stunts.
Rounding out the 10 most popular films in North America this weekend were "Jack The Giant Slayer" (6.2 million U.S. dollars), " Identity Thief" (4.5 million), "Snitch" (3.5 million), "21 And Over" (2.6 million), "Silver Linings Playbook" (2.6 million), " Safe Haven" (2.5 million), and "Escape from Planet Earth" (2.3 million).
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