Tops box office

WASHINGTON — Comedy horror slasher Happy Death Day had an excuse to celebrate this weekend as it stormed straight to the top of the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday.

With takings of $26.5 million according to Exhibitor Relations, it comfortably knocked last week’s leader, the long-awaited Blade Runner sequel, into second place. The film follows a college student who repeatedly relives the day she was murdered until she discovers who killed her.

Blade Runner: 2049 continued what has been seen as a disappointing run — halving last weekend’s earnings with takings of $15.1 million.

In at third was STX Entertainment’s The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan as a man who seeks revenge after his daughter is killed in a terrorist attack. The action thriller took a modest $12.8 million.

Horror sensation It slipped into fourth in its sixth week in theaters, with takings dropping by over a third from last weekend to $6 million (total earnings $314.9 million). After spending its first weekend in second place, Fox’s The Mountain Between Us, starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet, fell to fifth, taking $5.6 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were: American Made ($5.4 million); Kingsman: The Golden Circle ($5.3 million); The LEGO Ninjago Movie ($4.3 million); My Little Pony: The Movie ($4 million); and Victoria and Abdul ($3.1 million). —