"Sonic The Hedgehog 2" tops North American box office on opening weekend

Paramount Pictures' family-friendly film "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" dominated North American box office on its debut weekend with a three-day estimate of 71 million U.S. dollars, according to studio figures released by measurement firm Comscore on Sunday.

It's the second biggest opening weekend thus far for a film of 2022 in North America, only after Warner Bros. Pictures' superhero film "The Batman," which opened with 128.5 million dollars last month.

Directed by Jeff Fowler and based on the Sega video game, the film stars Ben Schwartz reprising his role as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, a superpowered hedgehog eager to prove it has what it takes to be a true hero.

"Sonic The Hedgehog 2" holds an approval rating of 67 percent based on 120 reviews to date on review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave it an "A" on CinemaScore, a market research firm.

"This follow-up to 2020's 'Sonic The Hedgehog' takes over the crown from its predecessor as the biggest opening ever for a video game adaptation and now shows that the family audience is back to the multiplex in a supersonic way," Comscore senior movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Xinhua.

Sony Pictures' superhero film "Morbius" came in second with 10.2 million dollars on its second weekend, pushing its North American cume to 57.07 million dollars.

Rounding out the top three, Paramount Pictures' action-adventure comedy film "The Lost City" took in 9.16 million dollars on its third weekend to reach 68.8 million dollars in total.