Fired-up Dragon scorches competition, takes No. 1

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World breathed some fire into a slumping box office with a franchise-best $55.5 million debut over Oscar weekend.

Writer-director Dean DeBlois’ third and supposedly final installment in the How

to Train Your Dragon series notched the best opening of the year in U.S. and Canadian theaters.

Going into the weekend, overall ticket sales for 2019 were down 18 percent, according to Comscore, throwing cold water on the record box office of 2018.

Made for $129 million, The

Hidden World rode good reviews (91 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and warm audience reaction (an A CinemaScore) to exceed the $43.7 million opening of the 2010 original (which ultimately made $494.9 million worldwide) and the $49 million opening of the 2014 sequel (which amassed $621.5 million).

The latest installment, which similarly features the voices of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera and Cate Blanchett, is the first DreamWorks Animation release under the Comcast-owned Universal, which bought Jeffrey Katzenberg’s company in 2016. Universal trotted out The

Hidden World abroad first. It’s been in release internationally since January, earning $216.9 million through Sunday. Last week’s top film, Alita:

Battle Angel, dropped steeply in its second weekend with $12 million. That’s a slide of 58 percent, and further trouble for the 20th Century Fox release from producer James Cameron and director Robert Rodriguez. The sci-fi film cost a hefty $170 million to make.

But Alita is doing better overseas. It grossed $92.4 million internationally over the weekend, boosted by Fox’s biggest opening ever in China. It was the No. 1 film there with $62.3 million in ticket sales.

Warner Bros.’ The Lego

Movie 2: The Second Part came in third, adding $10 million in its third weekend (a 52 percent drop) for a cumulative $83.6 million.

MGM’s Fighting With My

Family, about professional wrestling star Saraya “Paige” Bevis, was the only other new film in wide release. It expanded to 2,711 theaters after a limited release last weekend, grossing a modest $8 million. That’s respectable for a movie that had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and, according to

The Hollywood Reporter, was produced for only about $11 million. The fact that Dwayne Johnson was a producer probably didn’t hurt.

Directed by Stephen Merchant, Fighting With My

Family stars Florence Pugh as Bevis, and features a cameo supporting performance from Johnson.

Rounding out the top five, Warner Bros.’ Isn’t It Romantic added $7.5 million in its second weekend, a 47 percent drop, for a cumulative $33.8 million.

In sixth, seventh and eighth place, respectively, were Paramount’s What Men Want with $5.2 million and $45 million total in its third weekend, Universal’s Happy Death Day 2U with $5 million and a cumulative $21.6 million in its second weekend, and Lionsgate’s Cold

Pursuit with $3.3 million and $27.1 million in its third weekend.

In ninth place and its seventh weekend, STX Entertainment’s The Upside kept rolling with $3.2 million for a domestic total of $99.7 million.

Also new over the weekend, Roadside Attractions’ drama Run the Race landed at No. 10, debuting in 853 locations with $2.3 million, a perscreen average of $2,665. It earned a 40 percent “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

This weekend, Focus Features opens the thriller Greta and Lionsgate premieres the comedy Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral.

Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and the Night Fury dragon Toothless are among the characters in DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. It topped the charts at last weekend’s box office and made about $55.5 million.