LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sandra Bullock and George Clooney once again showed their proven star power among movie- goers in North America as their latest cinematic project "Gravity" claimed the top-ranking film in a third weekend in business.
The Warner Bros. astronaut adventure, which was directed by Alfonso Cuaron and stars the pair as astronauts involved in an accident, is on track to rake in 31 million dollars worth of ticket sales, finishing in the top slot. Distributor Warner Bros. projected it will gross 170.6 million dollars over three weeks.
Finishing in second slot is "Captain Phillips", a sea pirates drama starring Tom Hanks which is on pace for a 17.3-million- dollar weekend and a 53.3-million-dollar two-week total.
Opening in third place is "Carrie", a horror movie released by Sony's Screen Gems and MGM, which takes in 17 million dollars from 3,157 theaters in the United States and Canada.
As the sole thriller debuted on the eve of Halloween in North America, the flat opening is a disappointing news for distributors.
The R-rated thriller, boasting as a "re-imaging" of Brian De Palma's horror classic by the same name, is not well received among critics and film lovers. It won over only 51 percent of critics on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and first-night audience assigned a "B-" CinemaScore to it.
The film is directed by Kimberly Peirce and stars Chloe Moretz and Julianne Moore. However, it actually features nothing new as critics deem it "woefully unnecessary."
Rounding out the 10 most-popular films in the United States and Canada this weekend, as estimated by the studios, were "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" (10.1 million U.S. dollars), "Escape Plan" (debuting at 9.8 million), "Prisoners" (2 million), "Enough Said" (1.8 million), "The Fifth Estate" (debuting at 1.7 million), "Runner Runner" (1.6 million), and "Insidious: Chapter 2" (1.5 million).
