Ralph Breaks the Internet pulls in US$55.7m, dominates US box office

Los Angeles

DISNEY'S new Ralph Breaks the Internet dominated North American box offices over the holiday weekend, pulling in an estimated US$55.7 million for the Friday-through-Sunday stretch, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday.

The animated sequel to Wreck It Ralph enjoyed the second-best debut ever for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, behind Disney's Frozen, according to Variety.com, but will need plenty of staying power to make up for its hefty US$175 million production budget.

The film has title character Ralph (voiced by John Reilly) and friend Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) venturing into the wide world of the web, where they encounter some, well, not very Disney-like behaviour.

The second spot this weekend went to another new release, MGM's Creed II, with a take of US$35.3 million.

This eighth chapter in the Rocky series stars Michael B Jordan, Dolph Lundgren and, of course, Sylvester Stallone as the ageing Rocky Balboa.

Jordan plays Adonis Creed as he takes on the son of the boxer who killed Adonis's father.

In third place was Universal's family-friendly animation The Grinch at US$30.2 million. Benedict Cumberbatch voices the ill-tempered title character, with support from Rashida Jones and Angela Lansbury.

Sliding from first spot last weekend to fourth was Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald from Warner Bros, at US$29.7 million.

The Harry Potter prequel stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander as he works with Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to take down evil Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp).

In fifth was Bohemian Rhapsody, Fox's foot-stomping biopic about Freddie Mercury and rock group Queen, at US$13.9 million. The film has amassed over US$150 million in North American receipts.

Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were: Instant Family (US$12.5 million); Robin Hood (US$9.1 million); Widows (US$8 million); Green Book (US$5.4 million), and A Star Is Born (US$3 million). AFP