PARAMOUNT’S action-adventure film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 took in an estimated US$71 million (RM300 million) in North America this weekend, a welcome sign for Hollywood that families are returning to in-person viewing, reported industry watcher Exhibitor Relations today.

Franchise Entertainment Research’s David A. Gross said this is an outstanding opening, particularly for a sequel to a video-based movie.

The original Sonic film, based on the popular Sega game involving a lightning-fast hedgehog, scored a US$58 million opening in early 2020, at a time when Covid-19 was only beginning to register as a threat.

The latest hybrid production includes Jim Carrey in a live-action role, while Ben Schwartz (Sonic), Idris Elba (Knuckles) and Colleen O’Shaughnessey (Tails) voice animated characters.

Last weekend’s box office leader, Sony’s vampire flick Morbius, placed a very distant second this weekend, taking in US$10.2 million, a steep drop from last weekend’s US$39.1 million.

Jared Leto stars as a Nobel Prize-winner turned blood sucker in an adaptation from Marvel comics in Morbius.

In third was another Paramount film, action romance The Lost City, at US$9.2 million. Sandra Bullock plays a romance novelist kidnapped by a twisted tycoon (Daniel Radcliffe), who wants her to help him find a buried artefact on a remote, volcano-prone island.

Fourth spot went to a new Universal release, action adventure Ambulance, at US$8.7 million. Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II star as adoptive siblings who steal an ambulance to escape after a bank heist.

And in fifth was dark superhero film The Batman from Warner Bros, taking in US$6.5 million in its sixth week out. Robert Pattinson plays the caped crime fighter. – AFP, April 11, 2022.