Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill' s "22 Jump Street" opened north America Friday and raced to the first place at the Father's Day weekend box office after beating out "How to Train Your Dragon 2," proving that a R-rated comedy sequel can top the box office.
"22 Jump Street," the sequel to the 2012 comedy of 21 Jump Street, stroke the box office with 60 million U.S. dollars from 3, 306 locations, debuting 65 percent ahead of the first "Jump Street " which just got 36.3 million dollars, according to box office estimator Rentrak.
The comedy sequel cost less than 50 million dollars to produce, but caught the second largest opening weekend ever for an R-rated comedy behind"The Hangover Part II," which pulled 85.95 million dollars at the opening weekend.
"22 Jump Street" got a welcome among critics and audience, earning an 83 percent of approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes, and an A- from first night moviegoers.
DreamWorks Animation's sequel"How to Train Your Dragon 2" took the second place with an estimated 50 million dollars from 4, 253 locations. The 3D computer animated sequel from Fox and DreamWorks Animation opened 14 percent ahead of the 43.7 million dollars opening weekend take of 2010's "How to Train Your Dragon," becoming DreamWorks Animation'sbest opening in two years. First night moviegoers gave "How to Train Your Dragon 2" an A rating and 92 percent of critics from Rotten Tomatoes recommended the sequel.
Disney's "Maleficent" was ranked the third with 19 million dollars in its third weekend. "Maleficent" has grossed a strong 163.5 million dollars through 17 days of release in north America. The worldwide total of the film has increased to 436.4 million dollars, becoming Angelina Jolie's second profitable live-action film of all time after "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" in 2005, which got 478 million dollars.
Rounding out the 10 most popular films in North America this weekend, as estimated by studios, were "Edge of Tomorrow" (16.2 million dollars), "The Fault In Our Future" (15.7 million), "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" (9.5 million), "Godzilla" (3.2 million), "A Million Ways To Die In The West" (3.1 million), "Neighbors" (2.5 million) and "Chef" (2.3 million).