‘Kingsman’ takes the crown as ‘It’ slips to second

NEW YORK - The R-rated spy comedy “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” displaced the horror sensation “It” as the No. 1 film in North America, while the second “Lego Movie” spinoff of the year didn’t assemble the expected audience.

The 20th Century Fox release opened with a weekend-leading $39 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday. But “It” still continues to pull in record crowds. With $30 million over the weekend, “It” is now the highest-grossing horror film of all time, not accounting for inflation, with $266.3 million thus far.

The “Kingsman” sequel sought to expand on the 2015 original’s $36.2 million opening, and its $414 million worldwide take. Matthew Vaughn’s sequel returned stars Taron Egerton and Colin Firth, while adding Channing Tatum, Halle Berry and others. Made more for audiences than critics, reviews for the gleefully distasteful spy romp were poor, at 51 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Fox could celebrate an uptick the second time around, albeit a small one. “The Golden Circle” also debuted with $61 million overseas, giving it a $100 million global weekend. Vaughn is planning a third “Kingsman” film.

“We’re seven percent bigger than the last one, which opened on a holiday weekend,” said Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Fox. “We grew the franchise. We’re very happy.”

The Stephen King adaptation “It,” from Warner Bros. and New Line, may have slightly eaten into the ticket sales. Few believed “It” would still be such a draw in its third week of release; horror films usually drop severely after release. But the film has already established itself as the biggest hit ever in the month of September.

But the “Lego Movie” spinoff “The Lego Ninjago Movie,” was further off expectations, debuting with $21.2 million. Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s “The Lego Movie” - the 2014 hit that made $469 million worldwide - kicked off a bustling franchise. “Ninjago,” though, is the second spinoff of the calendar year, following February’s “The Lego Batman Movie.”

That release opened with $35 million and grossed $312 million in total - marks that “Ninjago” is likely to fall well short of. It may be that two “Lego” movies in a year was too many.

“I was hoping we’d do more. I’m disappointed this weekend didn’t come in a little higher,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. distribution head.

In its second week of release, Darren Aronofsky’s already infamous psychological thriller “mother!” failed to turn the tide.

The film, made for $30 million, last week became one of the few movies to receive an “F” CinemaScore on release. The horror parable, starring Jennifer Lawrence, slid to sixth place with $3.3 million, bringing its two-week haul to $13.4 million.

AP