Space adventure flick "Project Hail Mary" topped the North American box office for a second straight week with $54.5 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed on Sunday.
Ryan Gosling stars in the Amazon MGM film as a teacher-turned-astronaut who awakes on a spaceship with a mission to save Earth from a sun-dimming phenomenon.
It is adapted from a novel by Andy Weir, the author behind the 2015 hit "The Martian" starring Matt Damon.
Standing firm in second place was Disney/Pixar animated hit "Hoppers", with $12.2 million in the United States and Canada, according to Exhibitor Relations.
The latest original film from Disney's Pixar tells the story of a young animal lover who uses technology to transfer her consciousness into a robotic beaver so she can better communicate and protect wildlife.
Debuting in third place was horror flick "They Will Kill You", at $5 million.
The Warner Bros film — which stars Zazie Beetz (TV's "Atlanta"), Tom Felton (of "Harry Potter" fame) and Oscar winner Patricia Arquette — tells the tale of a woman working as a maid in a mysterious New York building where disappearances are common.
"These are respectable numbers for an original horror comedy with a modest budget of around $20 million to produce", said analyst David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. "Foreign business should be solid".
Fourth place went to Hindi-language spy thriller "Dhurandhar: The Revenge" with $4.75 million.
Released just three months after the original aired in North America, "Dhurandhar" continues the story of an Indian spy infiltrating Pakistani crime syndicates and politics, seeking to dismantle a terror network.
Considered political propaganda by some of India's neighbours, it has been notably banned in Pakistan.
Fifth place went to Universal's romance film "Reminders of Him", with $4.7 million.
It is the latest adaptation of a novel by Colleen Hoover and stars Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers. — AFP
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