Lily James in the title role in Disney’s Cinderella.Lily James in the title role in Disney’s Cinderella.

Cinderella enchanted audiences this weekend, racking up a royal $70.1 million to lead the domestic box office and a massive $132 million globally.

The adaptation of the classic fairy tale follows Walt Disney Studios’ strategy of raiding its library of animated favourites to refashion as live action blockbusters – an approach that yielded such successes as Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland, and one the studio plans to employ on Dumbo and Beauty and the Beast.

“From a company perspective and a public perspective, fairy tales are a part of our DNA,” said Dave Hollis, Disney’s distribution chief. “This is decidedly something that Disney does and does well.”

Cinderella’s popularity left Liam Neeson’s latest action-adventure, Run All Night, huffing and puffing at the finish line. The Warner Bros. release pulled in a lacklustre $11 million from 3,171 theatres, lower than pre-release tracking which suggested a debut in the $15 million range. The audience for the story of a father protecting his son (Joel Kinnaman) from mob hitmen was 52 per cent female and 86 per cent over the age of 25.

Cinderella opened across 3,845 theatres in North America and cost $95 million to produce. Opening weekend crowds were 68 per cent female, 66 per cent families and 31 per cent comprised of moviegoers under the age of 12.

“This was a strong protagonist and an aspirational character,” said Hollis. “We took the high bar reached by the classic animated film and built on it. This will now be something that complements the original.”

The film was not in 3D, but it did get a nice boost from other premium formats. Imax represent seven per cent of Cinderella’s gross and premium large formats comprised eighth per cent of the box office results. The film was a juggernaut overseas, picking up an estimated $62.4 million, $25 million of which came from China. The film opened in about 60 per cent of the international marketplace, including such major territories as Russia, Italy, Mexico and Germany.

Kingsman: The Secret Service captured third place with $6.2 million, pushing its haul to $107.4 million. Focus, Will Smith’s heist romance, snagged fourth position on the charts with $5.8 million. The Warner Bros. release has made $44 million after three weeks in theatres.

Fifth place went to Fox Searchlight’s The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which held steady with $5.7 million from 2,022 theatres in its sophomore frame, dropping a mere 33 per cent and bringing its total to $18.1 million.

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