(Photo: AP)
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Disney and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" easily maintained its reign in North America, adding 72 million U.S. dollars during its second weekend of release for a North American tally of 361.8 million dollars through Sunday.
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following 2015's "The Force Awakens" and 2017's "The Last Jedi," and the final installment of nine Star Wars saga films.
Directed by J. J. Abrams and starring Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher among others, the film follows the woman warrior Rey and the surviving Resistance as they face the First Order troops, who are now aided by the return of the deceased galactic emperor, Palpatine.
Internationally, the epic space-opera film brought in 94.3 million dollars from 52 markets this weekend, pushing its global cume to 724.8 million dollars to date, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore. The film is now the 10th highest grossing film of the year worldwide.
Seven of the top ten highest grossing films of the year worldwide are from Disney so far. Seemingly an unstoppable entertainment juggernaut, Disney has already powered past a world cume milestone of 10 billion U.S. dollars for 2019 with a record breaking six films being inducted into coveted Billion Dollar Club in a single year.
Sony's fantasy adventure comedy film "Jumanji: The Next Level" came in second with 35.3 million dollars for a North American cume of 175.45 million dollars through Sunday.
Directed by Jake Kasdan and based on the book "Jumanji" by Chris Van Allsburg, the film is the second sequel to 1995's "Jumanji," following 2017's "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle." In the latest follow-up, starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan among others, the gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own, the players will have to brave parts unknown and unexplored, from the arid deserts to the snowy mountains, in order to escape the world's most dangerous game.
A newcomer, Sony's "Little Women" opened in third place for a 5-day total through Sunday of 29 million dollars.
Directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Meryl Streep and Laura Dern, the coming-of-age period drama film is the seventh film adaptation of the 1868 novel of the same name by American author Louisa May Alcott.
Disney's animated fantasy "Frozen 2" landed in fourth with 16.5 million dollars in its sixth weekend for a North American total of 421.3 million dollars. The film has grossed 1,217.6 million dollars worldwide to date.
The follow-up arrived six years after the original "Frozen." The film features the return of the Academy Award-winning team -- directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck and the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Evan Rachel Wood, Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff. It brings back Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and Kristoff, as they venture beyond the kingdom of Arendelle to find out why Elsa was born with magical powers.
Fox's animated comedy film "Spies in Disguise" finished fifth this weekend with 13.2 million dollars in its opening weekend. Directed by Troy Quane and Nick Bruno in their directorial debuts, the film follows a super spy who is accidentally transformed into a pigeon by an intelligent teenage scientist and the pair have to work as a team to stop a cybernetic terrorist, or the whole world is in peril.
