'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' second-highest opening ever in N. America

"STAR WARS: The Last Jedi" soared to US$220 million (RM897 million) on its North American opening weekend, data released Sunday showed, backing up months of hype and earning critical praise even as early audiences didn't quite feel the Force.
The latest instalment of the epic space opera was bettered only by 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first movie in the saga's sequel trilogy which took US$248 million (RM1.1 billion) on its debut weekend and a total gross of US$937 million (RM3.8 billion).
But despite a "certified fresh" rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and lofty comparisons to The Empire Strikes Back, widely seen as the best film in the franchise, 95,000 movie-goers were less enthused, bestowing it a 56% average that was colder than the ice planet Hoth.
The numbers could still converge, but the discrepancy so far is unusual.
By comparison, The Force Awakens received a 93% critic score and 88% audience rating, while 2016 spin-off Rogue One: A Star Wars Story got 85% and 87% respectively.
The Last Jedi sees the return of the characters introduced in J.J. Abrams's first entry in the rebooted trilogy, and is also the last outing for character Leia Organa, played by Carrie Fisher, who died last December.
Box office figures are a poor measure of a film's popularity compared to older releases because they do not take inflation into account.
The Last Jedi was followed in second place by Ferdinand, a computer-animated comedy about a bull with a big heart often mistaken for a dangerous beast, which took US$13 million (RM53 million) on what was also its debut weekend.
Last weekend's number one Coco, a colorful Pixar movie set in Mexico, was beat out to third place with US$10 million (RM41 million).
It has now earned US$150.8 million (RM615 million) in North America since its release four weeks ago, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
Feel-good film Wonder starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay slid to fourth, taking US$5.4 million (RM22 million).
The movie tells the story of a determined fifth-grade boy with a facial deformity who must deal with rudeness and bullying by schoolmates.
Warner Bros. superhero film Justice League, featuring Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman and Jason Momoa as Aquaman, plus Ciaran Hinds as a supervillain, fell to fifth with US$4.2 million (RM17 million).
The figures from Exhibitor Relations are industry projections released prior to the conclusion of the weekend. — AFP

Rounding out the top ten were:
Daddy's Home 2 (US$3.8 million) (RM16 million)
Thor: Ragnarok (US$2.9 million) (RM12 million)
The Disaster Artist (US$2.6 million) (RM11 million)
Murder On The Orient Express (US$10 million)
Lady Bird (US$2.1 million) (RM9 million)