LOS ANGELES, April 7 – The reboot of the horror classic "Evil Dead" slayed its rivals in its opening weekend, topping the North American box office with $26 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday.
"Evil Dead," a reinvention of Sam Raimi's cult 1981 film about a group of friends hunted by demons in the woods, bested stone-age cartoon "The Croods," DreamWorks Animation's latest family crowd pleaser, which took in $21 million.
Long-delayed sequel "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" – an action film about a fantasy elite military unit starring Channing Tatum and Bruce Willis – dropped from first to third place at $20.5 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.
Paramount had postponed the sequel to 2009's "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" from its original June release in order to add 3D effects.
The 3D re-release of Steven Spielberg's 1993 dinosaur classic "Jurassic Park" stomped back onto the big screen, raking in $18.2 million in its opening weekend to earn fourth place.
"Tyler Perry's Temptation," a sultry thriller starring Vanessa Williams and Kim Kardashian, dropped from third to fifth place with $12 million.
Action thriller "Olympus Has Fallen," a tale of terrorism in the US capital and a kidnapped president starring Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman, fell to sixth place with $9.5 million in box office receipts.
In seventh was Walt Disney's 3D fantasy adventure flick "Oz the Great and Powerful," which earned $8.2 million in its fifth week in theaters, for a grand total of nearly $213 million so far.
"The Host," an action-adventure film adapted from a novel by "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer, was in eighth place with $5.5 million.
Ninth place went to "The Call," a thriller starring Halle Berry as a 911 operator trying to rescue a young girl who has been abducted. It earned $3.5 million.
The romantic comedy "Admission" starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd rounded out the top 10, earning $2.1 million.
Final figures were due out Monday.