Ghoulish 'Hotel Transylvania 2' haunts top of N. America box office

Los Angeles - The animated monsters from "Hotel Transylvania 2" scared up $48.5 million (S$69 million) in their debut weekend, landing a solid lead at the top of the North American box office, industry data showed Monday.

The all-star sequel, featuring the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez, among others, follows Dracula and his ghoulish pals as they attempt to bring out the monster side of the count's half-human grandson.

Landing in distant second was "The Intern," starring Robert De Niro as 70-year-old widower Ben, who goes to work at a fashion website, whose founder is played by Anne Hathaway. It earned $17.7 million in its first weekend out.

Those films edged "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" into third place after debuting at the top of the box office last week, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The movie, the second in the series of "Maze Runner" films based on popular young-adult science-fiction novels, earned $14.3 million.

Thriller "Everest," in which a group of climbers find themselves engulfed in a blizzard on the side of the iconic mountain, rose to fourth place in its second weekend out with $13.2 million.

Meanwhile "Black Mass," a biopic about Irish-American mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, landed in fifth place with $11.0 million.

Slipping to sixth was "The Visit," M. Night Shyamalan's low-budget thriller about a visit to grandma's house gone awry, with $6.7 million.

"The Perfect Guy," about a woman's tryst with a man who isn't what he seems, earned $4.8 million, finishing in seventh.

And "War Room," which centres on a struggling couple who finds help through prayer, earned some $4.2 million, landing in eighth.

In ninth with $3.5 million was gory cannibal flick "The Green Inferno," a fictitious tale about idealistic university students who head to the Amazon to help a tribe whose lands are threatened, but instead end up as dinner.

Rounding out the top ten was "Sicario," a drug war thriller featuring Benicio Del Toro as a brooding and shadowy agent looking for revenge as he operates across the US-Mexico border, with $1.7 million.