Immortals at the top

Big-budget 3D epic Immortals topped the top of the North American box office this weekend, beating an Adam Sandler comedy and a Leonardo DiCaprio biopic, according to industry estimates.

Set in ancient Greece, Immortals scored $32 million in weekend receipts, pushing it past Mr Sandler’s Jack and Jill, in which he plays both a successful Los Angeles advertising executive and his needy identical twin sister Jill.

The comedy came in second with $26 million, according to monitor Exhibitor Relations. Animated kids’ romp Puss in Boots, last week’s leader, took third place with $25.5 million. The flick features voice work by Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis and Billy Bob Thornton. In fourth was Tower Heist, with an all-star cast led by Eddie Murphy, at $13.2 million.

It was trailed by Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar, which stars Mr DiCaprio as late FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and raked in $11.5 million.

Comedy sequel A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas fell to sixth place, with $5.9 million, besting futuristic thriller In Time starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried at $4.2 million. Dropping to the eighth spot was Paranormal Activity 3, with $3.6 million over the weekend but an impressive total of $100.8 million over four weeks in theatres. A remake of the hit 1980s Footloose slipped to ninth at $2.7 million, ahead of the boxing robots of Real Steel.