America
'Fifty Shades Of Grey' tops North American box office for second time
Los Angeles, Feb 23
Universal's R-rated film
"Fifty Shades Of Grey" dropped over 70 percent on ticket sales in North
America, but it still got enough to win the box office for the second
time on the Oscar weekend.
"Fifty Shades Of Grey" was on track to
sell an estimated $23.2 million in tickets. Despite sales plummeting by
as much as 73 percent this weekend, it totalled $130.1 million in
America and Canada, reported Xinhua Sunday.
Adapted from E.L. James' erotic novel, "Fifty Shades Of Grey" opened on the Valentine's Day weekend.
Starring
Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, it was a huge hit overseas, pulling in
$280.5 million in 58 regions at the international box office, with the
total worldwide haul is $410.6 million.
"Kingsmen: The Secret
Service" was in second place with 17.5 million dollars and 67.1 million
dollars gross. It fell 52 percent on ticket sales compared with the
opening weekend.
"Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge Out of Water"
held on to third place, with an estimated $15.5 million this weekend.
That movie has soaked up $125.2 million in sales, much of that
contributed by family moviegoers.
Two new movies opened in the
top five. Disney's "McFarland, USA" debuted with $11.3 million at 2,755
locations in North America, and Lionsgate film "The Duff" opened with
$11 million.
With several big openings in the first two months,
the overall box office so far in 2015 is up 10 percent from the same
period last year.
Rounding op the top 10 movies this weekend, in
terms of ticket sales in the US and Canada, and as reported by the
studios and gathered by Rentrak, were "American Sniper" ($9.7 million),
"Hot Tub Time Machine 2" ($5.8 million), "Jupiter Ascending" ($3.7
million), "The Imitation Game" ($2.6 million) and "Paddington" ($2.3
million).