'Maleficent' sequel tops N.America box office but underwhelms

LOS ANGELES: Disney´s dark fairy tale sequel "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" debuted atop the North American box office at the weekend, but the big-budget fantasy flick fell far short of expectations, industry figures showed Monday.

The film starring Angelina Jolie in the title role took in $36.9 million, but that was well shy of projections that it would earn $45 million and a sharp drop-off from the first film´s $69.4 million launch in 2014.

"I don´t think anyone was expecting it to open to the degree that the first one did, but for whatever reason, this film didn´t resonate in North America," Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst with Comscore, told Variety.

"Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" earned $117 million abroad.

Both films follow the evil sorceress of "Sleeping Beauty" fame; this time around, Michelle Pfeiffer co-stars as a scheming Queen Ingrith.

Slipping to second in its third week out was "Joker" at $29.3 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, Exhibitor Relations said. It stars Joaquin Phoenix in the origin story about Batman´s nemesis.

Debuting in third place was "Zombieland: Double Tap" -- a sequel to the 2009 comedy cult favorite once again starring Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg. It took in $26.8 million.

Another Halloween-friendly film, "The Addams Family," slipped to fourth place in its second week at $16.3 million.

The computer-animated movie about the spooky family features the voices of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Snoop Dogg and Bette Midler.

Rounding out the top five was Paramount´s "Gemini Man," starring Will Smith as a retired hitman who must face off against a younger clone of himself. It took in $8.3 million.

The rest of the weekend´s top 10 were:

"Abominable" ($3.5 million)

"Downton Abbey" ($3.1 million)

"Judy" ($2.1 million)

"Hustlers" ($2.0 million)

"IT: Chapter Two" ($1.5 million)