DHAKA: ‘The Angry Birds Movie’ has knocked ‘Captain America’ off the top spot of the North American box office chart in its first week of release.

The film, based on the video game, made $39m at the weekend, pushing the Disney Marvel caper into second place in its fourth week with $33.1m, reports the BBC.

In third came new release ‘Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising’ with $21.8M.

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe’s ‘The Nice Guys’ opened in fourth, making $11m from a low-key 2,865 screens.

‘The Angry Birds Movie’ has been adapted from the game made by Rovio Animation at a cost of $73m and has already done well internationally, raking in $150m worldwide, according to its distributors Sony.

‘It’s very difficult turning a video game property into a successful movie,’ said Josh Greenstein, Sony’s president of worldwide marketing and distribution.

‘To use a bad pun, we are flying high.’

The animation features the voices of Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad and Danny McBride as the feathered stars.

It is set on an island populated by happy, flightless birds except for angry bird Red, voiced by Sudeikis, speedy Chuck, Gad’s character, and Bomb, voiced by McBride.

The film has received mixed reviews but as a family-friendly feature, it is expected to do well over the coming Memorial Weekend holiday, said market analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

‘Families are always looking for out-of-the-home content,’ said Dergarabedian, adding that this is the latest in a string of successful PG-rated films including The Jungle Book and Zootopia.

‘PG is the hot new rating now. There used to be a stigma that younger teens wouldn’t be interested. The numbers prove that when you go after the broadest base possible, you can be highly successful.’

BDST: 1301 HRS, MAY 24, 2016
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