'Bad Guys' Tops North American Box Office

Three new releases helped fuel the North American box office this weekend, with Universal's animated action-comedy "The Bad Guys" on top with an estimated US$24 million take, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday.

"Bad Guys" follows the exploits of a wickedly clever gang of creatures. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, the film has a voice cast including Sam Rockwell, Craig Robinson, Awkwafina, Marc Ramon, Anthony Ramos and Lilly Singh.

Overall, this was a good weekend for family-geared films – hit harder by the Covid effect than films targeting other demographics – with Paramount's "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" again placing second, at US$15.2 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

"Family moviegoing was certainly rocked by the pandemic, but families are returning now," said David Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. "We're still far from pre-pandemic levels... but this is a good start."

Third spot went to "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" from Warner Bros, at US$14 million, a fairly sharp drop from last weekend's US$43 million opening for the Wizarding World film.

New releases claimed the next two spots.

"The Northman" from Focus Features took in US$12 million. It tells the blood-soaked story of a Viking, played by Alexander Skarsgard, who seeks revenge on the man who killed his parents and usurped his father's throne.

Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Bjork, Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe round out the ensemble cast.

And in fifth was Lionsgate's very meta film "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent", at US$7.2 million. Nicolas Cage plays, none too seriously, a man named Nick Cage. (AFP)