‘Jumanji’ regains top spot in its seventh week

LOS ANGELES: Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle managed the rare feat this weekend of regaining the No. 1 spot in North American box offices on its seventh week, industry figures showed on Monday.

Taking in US$10.9 million (RM42.61 million) for the threeday weekend — as competition with football’s Super Bowl depressed ticket sales — Jumanji became the first film since Titanic, in 1998, to win a weekend this month following a nationwide release in December.

After holding the top spot for three consecutive weekends, the film closed out last month in second place.

The family flick, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart, follows a group of teens who find themselves transported inside the video game world of Jumanji.

Its domestic cumulative take of almost US$338 million makes it only the third Sony film to reach that mark.

Last weekend’s North American leader, Fox’s Maze Runner: The Death Cure, slipped to second place with a take of US$10.5 million, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The dystopian sci-fi film follows the harrowing adventures of three teens, who have survived a destructive virus infecting the world.

In third spot was a new release, Winchester from Lionsgate, with takings of US$9.3 million despite abysmal reviews.

The movie, a gothic thriller, was inspired by the real-life story of Sarah Winchester, the 19th-century heiress to the Winchester gun-making fortune, who built an enormous mansion in California to appease the spirits of people killed by her family’s firearms.