'Home' comfy atop North American box office

LOS ANGELES - Animated children's flick "Home," about an unpopular space alien forced to flee his own kind, took up residence over the weekend at the top of the North American box office, estimates showed Sunday.

The computer-generated movie, featuring Jim Parsons as the voice of "Oh" the extraterrestrial and Rihanna as his Earthling friend, landed US$54 million (S$60 million) in its first weekend out, box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations reported.

Trailing by US$20 million, comedy "Get Hard," about a prison-bound white executive (Will Ferrell) who hires a black car washer (Kevin Hart) for lessons on surviving the slammer, debuted in second place with US$34.6 million, despite criticism from some corners for racist and homophobic jokes.

Dystopian thriller "Insurgent," the second big-screen adaptation based on Veronica Roth's best-selling "Divergent" series, fell to third with US$22 million, after its debut at the top last week.

Meanwhile Disney's live action "Cinderella" remake worked its magic in fourth, earning US$17.5 million, with Lily James as the enchanted princess and Cate Blanchett as her wicked stepmother.

Indie horror flick "It Follows," which opened weeks ago but debuted over the weekend in wide release, took fifth place and $4 million in ticket sales.

Sixth went to British spy spoof "Kingsman: The Secret Service," with US$3.1 million in its sixth weekend out.

Action flick "Run All Night," featuring grizzled tough guy Liam Neeson playing a hit man going up against the mob, was seventh with US$2.2 million.

Sequel "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," featuring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Richard Gere, raked in just under US$2.2 million to earn eighth place.

Religious drama "Do You Believe" took ninth with US$2.15 million and Sean Penn action movie "The Gunman" fell into 10th with US$2 million."