LOS ANGELES, Dec 10 — Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet has again topped North American box offices, taking in an estimated US$16.1 million (RM67 million) for the weekend to narrowly edge out another family-oriented animation, Universal's The Grinch, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said yesterday.

On a last quiet weekend before the coming crush of holiday films, the order of the top five films on this three-day weekend was, remarkably, exactly the same as last weekend.

Ralph, a family-friendly sequel to 2012's Wreck It Ralph with the title character voiced by John C. Reilly, came in just ahead of Grinch, which sold US$15.7 million in tickets. Benedict Cumberbatch voices the grouchy Seuss-inspired title character in that film.

In third spot again was MGM's boxing drama Creed II, at US$10.3 million. This latest in the long-running "Rocky series stars Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed as he — coached by the aging Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) — takes on the son of the boxer who killed his father.

Fourth place went to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald from Warner Bros, with a take of US$6.8 million. The Harry Potter prequel stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law and Johnny Depp.

And in fifth was Fox's Bohemian Rhapsody, at US$6 million. Rami Malek has drawn rave reviews for his portrayal of rock group Queen's talented singer Freddie Mercury.

The coming weeks will see the release of some expected blockbusters, including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Mule, Mary Poppins Returns and Aquaman, which scored a huge US$93.6 million over the weekend in China.

Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were:

Instant Family (US$5.6 million)

Green Book (US$3.9 million)

Robin Hood (US$3.6 million)

The Possession of Hannah Grace (US$3.2 million)

Widows (US$3.1 million) — AFP-Relaxnews