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New "Star War" film rockets to No.1 at box office in North America

Xinhua, December 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The new "Star Wars" movie has opened in the number one spot around the world, as "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was on track to sell 155 million U.S. dollars in tickets by the end of Sunday.

Opening at 4,157 theaters, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" rockets to a strong start as it is already the 15th highest grossing release of 2016 after just three days of screening.

The film received an "A" CinemaScore from first-night moviegoers as it played to crowds that were 66 percent male versus 34 percent female. About 39 percent of its audience were under the age of 25. It also holds an 84 percent rating from critics on RottenTomatoes, which shows it has got highly recommendation from movie critics.

Globally, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" opened in the number one spot in every market in the world except in South Korea and China, where it will release in the next weeks.

Another Disney release, "Moana," was a strong second place with 11.7 million dollars in projected weekend sales, according to studio figures collected by comScore. In its four weeks of showing in North America, it has sold 161.9 million dollars in tickets.

The raunchy "Office Christmas Party" counter-programmed its way into third place, with an 8.5 million dollars weekend and 31.5 million dollars in receipts estimated for its two-week run.

"Collateral Beauty" opened in fourth place, with 7 million dollars debut.

The latest Harry Potter spinoff, "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them," is on track for a 5 million dollars weekend, and has grossed 207.7 million dollars in North America over five weeks.

Two contenders for Best Picture Oscars were in fifth and sixth place: "Manchester By The Sea" was projected to do 4.2 million dollars in business this weekend, as it widens its distribution to 1,208 locations in America and Canada. And "La La Land" will gross 4 million dollars on just 200 screens across North America.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies this week were "Arrival" (2.8 million dollars),"Doctor Strange" (2 million) and "Nocturnal Animals" (1.4 million). Endit