‘Guardians’ dominates again, leaving 2 new films in its wake

Disney’s space romp “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” continued its hyperspeed performance over the weekend in North America while approaching a quarter-billion dollars in ticket sales for its first two weeks, according to industry estimates.

The lighthearted Marvel flick about a band of misfit space adventurers logged $63 million in ticket sales over the three-day weekend, Exhibitor Relations said.

That gave “Guardians,” which stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, just over half the combined ticket sales of the top 12 movies showing in the United States and Canada. It has taken in over $630 million worldwide.

Its strong showing kept it far ahead of second-place “Snatched” from Fox, a new release starring Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer as a mother and daughter on a wild jungle adventure. That film netted $17.5 million over the Mother’s Day weekend.

In third place was “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” a new release from Warner Bros., which took in $14.7 million. Variety called that a “paltry sum” and Hollywoodreporter.com termed it “a flop of epic proportions” considering the $175 million spent to produce the film.

“Arthur” stars Charlie Hunnam in the title role, with support from Jude Law and Eric Bana.

Fourth was “The Fate of the Furious” from Universal, with $5.3 million in domestic ticket sales. That movie, starring Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson, last week passed the $1 billion mark worldwide.

And fifth was “The Boss Baby” from Fox. The animated tale of rivalry between infants and puppies held on to take in $4.6 million in its seventh week out.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Beauty and the Beast” ($3.9 million)

“How to Be a Latin Lover” ($3.8 million)

“Lowriders” ($2.4 million)

“The Circle” ($1.7 million)

“Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” ($1.5 million) The Indian swashbuckling epic is the highest-grossing Indian film in history, and the third-biggest foreign language debut in the United States.