Crime thriller "No Good Deed" commands first place in North American box office

Sony's low-budget horror film "No Good Deed," starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, secured the top place in the North American box office, with an estimated tickets earning of 24.5 million U.S. dollars over the weekend.

"No Good Deed," with a budget of 13.2 million dollars to shoot, was released Friday. Much of the film's success was attributed to the drawing power of Elba and Henson and also said to be helped out by the fairly empty marketplace this weekend as Screen Gems, a subsidiary of the Sony Pictures Entertainment, used to have had a strong history with thrillers in the past. "No Good Deed" received a B+ rating on CinemaScore, which is very solid for a thriller.

"Dolphin Tale 2," the sequel to a 2011 hit film, finished the second with an estimated tickets revenue of 16.55 million U.S. dollars. The debut of the family-friendly sequel from Warner Bros. fell short of the first film, which raked in 19.15 million U.S. dollars for the debut in September 2011. "Dolphin Tale 2" was helped out by solid critical reviews and by the recent lack of family fare in the marketplace. The sequel's strong A rating on CinemaScore is an encouraging early sign. Like its predecessor, " Dolphin Tale 2" is expected to hold up well going forward.

After leading the box office for the past three weekends, " Guardians of the Galaxy," a hit space adventure film, was down two spots to be in the third place with 8.04 million U.S. dollars in tickets earnings. The Marvel's blockbuster sci-fi superhero adaptation had surpassed the mark of 300 million U.S. dollars in domestic tickets sale up to this weekend, making it the first film release of the year 2014 to do so in North American theaters, distributor Walt Disney Co. said. The 45-day total tickets earning for the sequel film in North America stood at 305.93 million dollars.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" came in the fourth with an estimated revenue of 4.8 million dollars. The blockbuster franchise re-launch was down 26 percent from that of last weekend. "Let's Be Cops," a comedy distributed by 20th Century Fox and released in mid-August, raked in 4.3 million dollars and stood at the fifth place.

Fox Searchlight's "The Drop" was off to a surprisingly strong sixth place, with an estimated 4.2 million dollars. "The Drop," a crime drama starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and the late James Gandolfini, earned a very solid per-location average of 5,315 dollars from screening at 809 locations.

"If I Stay," distributed by Warner Bros and released late last month, claimed the seventh place with an estimated tickets sale of 4.05 million dollars over the weekend.