TORONTO — Sequels dominated the weekend box office, taking four of the top five spots and raking in a combined $160 million in the U.S. and Canada.
According to studio estimates, the winner was Pitch Perfect 2, which earned $69.2 million. The follow-up to 2012’s musical comedy made more in its first weekend than the original earned domestically during its entire theatrical run.
Pitch Perfect 2, directed by Elizabeth Banks, is one of two movies in the top five with a female director. The other, Anne Fletcher’s Hot Pursuit, added $5.7 million in its second weekend to land in fourth place.
Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth movie in the franchise since 1980, opened to $45.4 million to earn second place.
It was followed by Avengers: Age of Ultron, which made another $38.9 million to put its worldwide haul at more than $1.1 billion.
Fifth place belonged to Furious 7. It earned $3.6 million in its seventh week to bring its global box office to just under $1.5 billion.
Another sequel, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, finished the weekend in sixth place with $3.5 million.
The rest of the top 10 consists of the B.C.-shot drama Age of Adaline ($3.2 million), Home ($2.6 million), Ex Machina ($2 million) and Far from the Madding Crowd ($1.3 million).
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