300: Rise of an empire conquers US box office, does well in India too

With their abs aglow, the fighters of '300: Rise of an Empire' dominated the US box office with $45 million in the movie's opening weekend. According to Boxofficeindia.com, the movie did well in India as well, collecting Rs 15 crore nett during the Friday-Sunday period.

In the US, the Warner Bros' 3-D bloodbath bested 20th Century Fox's animated 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman', based on a cartoon about the time-traveling adventures of a boy and his brilliant dog. That film opened in second with $32.2 million.

The Universal Pictures thriller 'Non-Stop' - which stars Liam Neeson and features Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o in her first role since '12 Years a Slave' - landed in third place in its second weekend after dominating the charts last week.

Still building on its stellar release, Warner Bros' 'The Lego Movie' earned $10.9 million in its fifth week. Its domestic total is now an impressive $224.9 million.
 
According to analysts at Boxofficeindia.com, has been long since a Hollywood film did as well in India in its opening weekend.
 
'300: Rise of an empire' collected well in Mumbai, Delhi/UP and South circles but fared poorly in the East. The collections were even higher than Queen, Gulaab Gang and Total Siyaapa - the three new Bollywood releases from Friday.
 
The weekend amounted to around Rs 36 crore nett for the three Hindi releases and 300: Rise Of An Empire. The Hollywood film took nearly 42 per cent of the pie, leaving 58 per cent to be shared by the three Hindi releases.

The top 10 movies at US and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross collections, number of theater locations and number of weeks in release, as compiled on Tuesday by Rentrak, are:

1. 300: Rise Of An Empire - Warner Bros - $45,038,460 - 3,470 locations - 1 week.

2. Mr. Peabody And Sherman - 20th Century Fox - $32,207,057 - 3,934 locations - 1 week.

3. Non-Stop - Universal - $15,829,605 - 3,113 locations - 2 weeks.

4. The Lego Movie - Warner Bros - $10,911,385 - 3,290 locations - 5 weeks.

5. Son of God - 20th Century Fox - $10,379,335 - 3,271 locations - 2 weeks.

6. Monuments Men - Sony - $3,074,647 - 2,001 locations - 5 weeks.

7. 3 Days To Kill - Relativity Media - $3,009,910 - 2,348 locations - 3 weeks.

8. Frozen - Disney - $2,954,554 - 1,660 locations - 16 weeks.

9. 12 Years a Slave - Fox Searchlight - $2,110,812 - 1,065 locations - 21 week.

10. Ride Along - Universal - $2,024,190 - 1,323 locations - 8 weeks.

(Source: India figures - Boxofficeindia.com; US-Canada figures - Associated Press)