"Captain Marvel" dominates North American box office in opening weekend

LOS ANGELES, march 10 (Xinhua) -- Opened on march 8, International Women's day, Disney and Marvel's superheroine film "Captain Marvel" is the box office queen in North America, taking in a spectacular 153 million U.S. dollars in its debut weekend.

It's the biggest opening weekend of 2019 and the first over 100 million dollars. The film also earned 302 million dollars internationally for a global total of 455 million dollars this weekend, the biggest worldwide opening ever for a female-fronted film, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.

Based on the Marvel Comics superheroine of the same name and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, the film stars Brie Larson in the title role. It's the 21st installment of Marvel Cinematic Universe and its first adaptation featuring a woman in the lead role. The plot follows Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.

"A box office hero descended on movie theaters around the world as Disney's 'Captain Marvel' generates huge enthusiasm among audiences looking for a blockbuster experience and gives the box office year of 2019 an enormous and much-needed boost in the process," wrote movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian at Comscore in an email to Xinhua.

The film received an "A" rating from moviegoers on CinemaScore and an 80 percent certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Far behind in second place, Universal and DreamWorks' animated fantasy film "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" brought in an estimated 14.69 million dollars in its third weekend for a North American cume of 119.66 million dollars.

Loosely based on the book series of the same name by Cressida Cowell, the film is the final installment in the "How to Train Your Dragon" film trilogy. Directed by Canadian director Dean DeBlois, the film features an all-star voice cast including Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett and America Ferrera and the plot follows Hiccup seeking a dragon utopia called "The Hidden World."

Lionsgate's comedy film "A Madea Family Funeral" came in third with an estimated 12.05 million dollars for a North American total of 45.87 million in its second weekend. Directed and written by Tyler Perry, the plot centers on a joyous family reunion that becomes a nightmare as Madea and the crew travel to backwoods Georgia, where they find themselves unexpectedly planning a funeral that might unveil unsavory family secrets.

Warner Bros.' animated adventure comedy film "Lego Movie 2: The Second Part" landed in fourth in its fifth weekend with an estimated 3.82 million dollars for a North American total of 97.11 million dollars. Directed by Mike Mitchell, the film is a direct sequel to 2014's "The Lego Movie" and reunites the heroes of Bricksburg in an all new action-packed adventure to save their beloved city.

Fox's cyberpunk action film "Alita: Battle Angel" finished fifth in its fourth weekend with an estimated 3.2 million dollars. Based on Japanese manga series "Gunnm," the sci-fi epic is directed by Robert Rodriquez and produced by James Cameron. American actress Rosa Salazar stars as Alita, a cyborg, who wakes up in a doctor's clinic with no memory of who she is. She must soon use her extraordinary fighting abilities to combat deadly forces while trying to uncover the truth behind her mysterious past.