‘ DUNKIRK’ WINS TOP SPOT
Big- budget World War II epic Dunkirk stormed to the top of the North American box office in its opening weekend on the strength of stellar reviews and a sterling big screen debut by pop star Harry Styles, industry estimates showed Sunday.
The film directed by Briton Christopher Nolan – which took in an estimated $ 50.5 million in the US and Canada, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations – has been hailed by many critics as a masterpiece.
It stars One Direction singer Styles in the retelling of the heroic evacuation in 1940 of hundreds of thou- sands of Allied troops from a beach in northern France under constant German bombardment.
Raunchy comedy Girls Trip, starring Queen Latifah and Will Smith’s better half Jada Pinkett Smith, debuted in second place with $ 30.4 million in tickets sold.
Third place went to Spider- Man: Homecoming, which pulled in $ 22 million in its third week of release. Overall, it has raked in more than $ 250 million in North America.
Last week’s box- office leader, War For the Planet of the Apes – the latest installation in the saga of intelligent primates’ battle against an evil human dictator – raked in $ 20.4 million in its second week for fourth place.
Rounding out the top five was another debut, Luc Besson’s $ 180 million space fantasy Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
The EuropaCorp-financed film starring Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, said to be the most expensive independent film ever made, grossed just over $ 17 million. Rounding out the top 10 were: Despicable Me 3 ($ 12.7 million) Baby Driver ($ 6.0 million) The Big Sick ($ 5.0 million) Wonder Woman ($ 4.6 million) Wish Upon ($ 2.5 million)