Sony’s sports action film Gran Turismo didn’t exactly roar to the front of the North America box office, but did make it there on a slow late-August weekend, beating a still-turbo-powered Barbie.

Based on a popular video game, Gran Turismo took in an estimated US$17.3 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday (Aug 27).

“This is a lukewarm opening for an action film based on a video game,” particularly compared with previous game-based films like Warcraft (US$439 million in worldwide ticket sales) and Rampage (US$428 million), analyst David A Gross said.

The movie stars David Harbour and Orlando Bloom in a story about a racing academy that recruits skilled video gamers to train them as real race-car drivers.

Warner Bros’ Barbie, meantime, has remained a steady seat-filler, with its US$17.1 million take in its sixth week out propelling it to a US$594 million domestic total.

The Greta Gerwig film recently overtook The Super Mario Bros Movie (US$574 million) as the year’s domestic box-office champ. Add to that the US$745 million Barbie has earned overseas.

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Analysts said that Sony’s accounting of ticket sales for Gran Turismo was a bit wonky (including millions in pre-sales) and predicted Barbie might, in the final tally, be the weekend’s No 1.

Last weekend’s leader, superhero flick Blue Beetle from DC Studios and Warner Bros, dipped to third, at US$12.8 million, a nearly 50 per cent drop from the previous weekend. Xolo Mariduena, as the Beetle, became the first live-action Latino protagonist.

In fourth was Universal’s Oppenheimer, earning an estimated US$9 million. The atom bomb origin story has now surpassed US$300 million in domestic earnings, with an additional US$477 million overseas.

And in fifth place was Paramount’s animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, the latest chapter in the heroes-in-a-half-shell saga, at US$6.1 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

• Meg 2: The Trench (US$5.1 million)

• Strays (US$4.7 million)

• Retribution (US$3.5 million)

• The Hill (US$2.5 million)

• Haunted Mansion (US$2.1 million) AFP