LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Disney and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" remained victorious at the North American box office, collecting 33.73 million U.S. dollars during its third weekend in theaters.
The epic space-opera film has grossed 450.8 million dollars in North America through Sunday. Internationally, the film brought in 50.5 million dollars from 53 markets this weekend, pushing its global cume to 918.8 million dollars to date, according to studio figures collected by the measurement firm Comscore.
Disney has powered past a world cume milestone of 10 billion dollars for 2019 with a record breaking six films being inducted into the coveted Billion Dollar Club in a single year. "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" is on track to be the Hollywood studio's 7th 1-billion-dollar global release of 2019.
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following "The Force Awakens" in 2015 and "The Last Jedi" in 2017, and the final installment of nine Star Wars saga films.
Directed by J. J. Abrams and starring Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, the film follows the woman warrior Rey and the surviving Resistance as they face the First Order troops, who are now aided by the return of the deceased galactic emperor, Palpatine.
Sony's fantasy adventure comedy film "Jumanji: The Next Level" came in second in its fourth weekend with 26.5 million dollars, pushing its North American total to 236.2 million dollars for a global cume of 610 million dollars through Sunday.
Directed by Jake Kasdan and based on the book "Jumanji" by Chris Van Allsburg, the film is the second sequel to "Jumanji" in 1995, following "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" in 2017.
In the latest follow-up, starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan, the gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own, the players will have to brave parts unknown and unexplored, from the arid deserts to the snowy mountains, in order to escape the world's most dangerous game.
Sony's "Little Women" landed in third in its second weekend with 13.57 million dollars for a North American tally reaching 60.02 million dollars through Sunday.
Directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Meryl Streep and Laura Dern, the acclaimed coming-of-age period drama film is the 7th film adaptation of the 1868 novel of the same name by American author Louisa May Alcott.
Sony's supernatural horror film "The Grudge," the only wide release newcomer over the first weekend of 2020 in North America, opened with 11.3 million dollars through Sunday.
Directed by Nicolas Pesce and starring Andrea Riseborough, Demian Bichir, John Cho, Betty Gilpin with Lin Shaye and Jacki Weaver, the film is based on the Japanese horror film "Ju-On: The Grudge," written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. It's the 4th installment in The Grudge film series.
Disney's animated blockbuster "Frozen 2" finished 5th with 11.29 million dollars in its 7th weekend for a North American cume of 449.9 million dollars. The film has grossed 1.325 billion dollars globally, becoming the highest grossing animated film ever.
The previous record-holding film was the original "Frozen," which grossed 1.281 billion dollars worldwide.
"Frozen 2" arrived six years after its predecessor, featuring the return of the Academy Award-winning team -- directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck as well as the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Evan Rachel Wood, Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff. It brings back Anna, Elsa, Olaf and Kristoff, as they venture beyond the kingdom of Arendelle to find out why Elsa was born with magical powers.
