LOS ANGELES – In a summertime battle of sequels, a pair of kooky cops beat out flying dragons for the top spot at the box office.
The R-rated comedy 22 Jump Street debuted in first place with $60 million, followed by How to Train Your Dragon 2 which opened with $50 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The original versions of Dragon and Jump Street were springtime releases, and their strong performances then led studios to offer sequels during the hot movie-going months of summer.
Jump Street stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as bumbling undercover officers who pose as college students to bust a campus drug dealer. Hill also lends a voice to the animated Dragon, the feature that follows Hiccup and his winged dragon Toothless on an adventure where they discover hundreds of wild dragons and a mysterious dragon master.
Maleficent claimed third place in its third week of release. Tom Cruise action romp Edge of Tomorrow took the fourth spot, followed by last week’s top film, teen tear-jerker The Fault in Our Stars.
Montreal-shot X-Men: Days of Future Past was sixth with $9.5 million and made-in-Vancouver Godzilla finished next with $3.2 million.
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