LOS ANGELES -- Disney proved it still has that magic touch on princess movies this weekend, as the remake of "Cinderella" opened with a stronger-than-expected 70.1 million U.S. dollars in estimated sales in the United States and Canada.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh, "Cinderella" brings back the 1950 animated classic fairy tale with "Downton Abbey" star Lily James as Cinderella, and "Game of Thrones" Richard Madden as Prince Charming.
"Cinderella" opened with 23 million dollars at 3,845 locations on Friday and got 70.1 million dollars in the three-day weekend franchise, according to studio estimates from Rentrak.
Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, "Cinderella" delivered the sixth largest debut ever for the month of March and became the third largest Disney opening for March. IMAX grosses represented 7 percent of the film's overall gross.
The film, which cost 95 million dollars to make, got a high reputation among the first-night moviegoers. It received a strong "A" grade from audience polling firm CinemaScore. The critics also gave the film a solid 83 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience skewed heavily towards female moviegoers ( 66 percent of the audience was female) and towards younger moviegoers (55 percent of the audience was 25 years and younger).
Globally, "Cinderella" pulled in about 62.4 million dollars in more than 30 markets, bringing its total global gross to 132.5 million dollars.
Playing at 3,171 locations, Liam Neeson's "Run All Night" opened in a distant second place with 11 million dollars.
As the fourth Neeson-led action thriller in just over a year, " Run All Night" opened a bit below expectations. It started with 3. 9 million dollars on Friday.
The Warner Bros' R-rated action saw Neeson as a hitman at the end of his career, battling with his old friend, played by Ed Harris.
The audience breakdown for the film skewed heavily towards moviegoers over the age of 25 (86 percent) and slightly towards female moviegoers (52 percent). "Run All Night" received an "A-" rating on CinemaScore and 59 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Fox's "Kingsman: The Secret Service," in its fifth week of exhibition, was in the third place with 6.2 million dollars and 107 million dollars gross.
Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies this week were "Focus" (5.8 million dollars), "Chappie" (5.8 million), "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (5.7 million), "Spongebob Squarepants 2" (4. 1 million), "McFarland USA" (3.7 million), "American Sniper" (2.9 million) and "The Duff" (2.9 million).
