The China Mail - 'Fantastic Four' stretches lead to 2nd week at N.America box office

Actor-of-the-moment Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Emmy-winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn star as the titular team of superheroes, who must save a retro-futuristic world from the evil Galactus.

The film pulled in an estimated $40 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, a 66 percent drop from the prior weekend, for a two-week global total of $368 million.

Universal's family-friendly animation sequel "The Bad Guys 2," about a squad of goofy animal criminals actually doing good in their rebranded lives, debuted in second spot, earning $22.2 million.

"This is a good opening for an animation follow-up sequel," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

The film edged out Paramount's reboot of "Naked Gun," a slapstick comedy starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr, son of the bumbling police lieutenant from the original 1980s movie and related television series "Police Squad!"

It pulled in $17 million in its opening weekend.

"Superman," the latest big-budget action film featuring the iconic superhero from Warner Bros. and DC Studios, slipped from second to fourth at $13.9 million, Exhibitor Relations said.

That puts the global take of the film, starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, at $551 million.

"Jurassic World: Rebirth" -- the latest installment in the blockbuster dinosaur saga -- finished in fifth place with $8.7 million. Its worldwide total stands at $765 million after five weeks in theaters.

Independent horror film "Together," which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Neon, claimed sixth spot in its debut weekend with $6.8 million.

"This is a very good opening for an indie horror pic," Gross said.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"F1: The Movie" ($4.1 million)

"I Know What You Did Last Summer" ($2.7 million)

"Smurfs" ($1.8 million)

"How to Train Your Dragon ($1.4 million)

D.Peng--ThChM