Oz the Great and Powerful is living up to its name at the North American box office.
Disney's 3D blockbuster led all films for the second week in a row, taking in US$42.2 million ($51.3 million) according to studio estimates yesterday. Sam Raimi's prequel to the L. Frank Baum classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz also took in US$46.6 million overseas, for a two-week worldwide total of US$281.8 million.
That makes Oz easily the biggest hit of 2013 so far.
"Boy, did we need it," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "There have been a lot of box-office casualties this year. This is the shot in the arm that we needed, but we're still waiting for the marketplace to gain some sort of momentum."
The US-Canada box office is down nearly 13 per cent from last year.
-AP
Ticket sales
1 Oz the Great and Powerful US$42.2 m
2 The Call $17.1m
3 The Incredible Burt Wonderstone $10.3m
4 Jack the Giant Slayer $6.2m
5 Identity Thief $4.5m
6 Snitch $3.5m
7 21 and Over $2.6m
8 Silver Linings Playbook $2.6m
9 Safe Haven $2.5m
10 Escape From Planet Earth $2.3m
US and Canadian theatres, Hollywood.com
By Jake Coyle
