Wolverine slices up box office

SANDY COHEN

The Wolverine slashed monsters and minions to debut on top of the weekend box office in North America.

The Fox film featuring Hugh Jackman’s sixth turn as the claw-wielding superhero opened with US$55 million (1.7 billion baht), according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Last weekend’s top movie, Warner Bros.’ low-budget horror The Conjuring, slipped to second place, adding another US$22.1 million to its take.

Despicable Me 2 was in third with US$16 million. The Universal animated sequel, with its cast of cute, yellow minions, has made more than US$600 million worldwide since it came out four weeks ago.

The Wolverine, which is set in Japan and features an international cast, earned another US$86.1 million outside of North America. The film’s openingweek take surpassed the US$120 million it cost to make, said Chris Aronson, Fox’s head of domestic distribution.

‘‘It’s a huge opening for the clawed one,’’ he said. ‘‘It played equally well from Maine to Maui.’’

Another Fox film, the animated snailracing tale Turbo, was in fourth place with US$13.3 million. Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups 2 followed with US$11.5 million.

Woody Allen’s latest, Blue Jasmine, enjoyed a stellar opening of its own, though on a much smaller scale. Starring Cate Blanchett, the film opened in just six cinemas but still collected US$612,767.

‘‘It’s one of the biggest opening pertheatre averages ever for a nonanimated film,’’ said Paul Dergarabedian of box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

Ticket sales this weekend were up almost 30% over the same weekend last summer, he said.

‘‘It was a good weekend to be a moviegoer because the choices just got a lot more interesting,’’ Dergarabedian said, noting a mix that includes animated, independent and big-budget action offerings.

Fruitvale Station, the Sundance festival winner already generating Oscar buzz, opened across the country and edged its way into the top 10, contributing to a summer box office that is up more than 10% over last year.