(Los Angeles) West Side Story, Steven Spielberg’s remake of the cult 1961 musical, shot to the top of the North American box office for its first week of operation, according to provisional estimates by specialist firm Exhibitor Relations released on Sunday.
This Romeo and Juliet New Yorker thus garnered 10.5 million dollars this weekend by taking again the codes, the music, and the history carried on the boards for the first time on Broadway in 1957.
Set to music composed by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics written by recently deceased Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim, the film follows the stammering romance between Tony and Maria, two young people who will be torn by their loved ones and families.
Because in the background are emerging the clashes between two rival bands, the Jets and the Sharks for control of the Upper West Side neighborhood in Manhattan.
Played by Ansel Elgort, Tony is a former member of the Jets, with a European immigrant background, while Maria, played by Rachel Zegler, has recently arrived from Puerto Rico and pledges allegiance to the Sharks, who hail from her native island.
Disney’s new animated film, Encanto, has therefore slipped to second place, collecting about $ 9.4 million this weekend, for a total of $ 71.3 million in three weeks of operation.
The film, whose music was composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, follows the adventures of an ordinary teenager, Mirabel, born into a family in which each member is endowed with magical powers, in the heart of the mountains of Colombia.
In the third place figure Ghostbusters: Afterlife, latest opus of the famous franchise, which recorded 7.1 million dollars this weekend, and 112 million in four weeks of projection in theaters.
Directed by Jason Reitman, son of director of the first installment Ivan Reitman, the film takes audiences on a ghost adventure that takes place this time in a small town in Oklahoma, and no longer in Manhattan in the 1980s.
Far behind this top trio, House of Gucci, which chronicles the assassination of Maurizio Gucci, heir to the Italian fashion house, sponsored by his ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani, played by singer Lady Gaga, recorded $ 4 million in revenue.
The Ridley Scott feature features a five-star cast, starring Al Pacino, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Irons and Jared Leto.
The Marvel Superhero Movie Eternals retains fifth place with $ 3.1 million.
The rest of the top 10 :
6. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City ($ 1.7 million)
7. Clifford (1.3 million)
8. Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers (1.3 million)
9. Dune (0.9 million)
10. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (0.9 million)