LOS ANGELES, Jan 28 — Universal’s thriller Glass has kept clear of the competition in North American box offices for a second straight weekend, taking in an estimated US$19 million (RM78 million), industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said yesterday.

Financed and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Glass is a sequel to his Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016). It stars Bruce Willis as a superhuman locked in a psychiatric ward with a mass murderer — "Mr Glass” — played by Samuel L. Jackson.

The second and third spots at the box office remained unchanged from last weekend, with STX Films’ The Upside earning US$12.2 million and Warner Bros’ Aquaman hauling in US$7.4 million in its sixth week out.

The Upside stars Bryan Cranston as a wealthy quadriplegic who hires ex-convict Kevin Hart as his caretaker. The New York Times calls the tale, a remake of a French film, "impolitic” but "surprisingly winning.”

Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa as the underwater king, has now generated US$1.09 billion in global box office revenues, making it the largest DC Comics adaptation of all time, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

A new release from Fox, The Kid Who Would Be King, placed fourth with US$7.3 million for the three-day weekend. That would be a "potentially disastrous result for a film that cost over US$60 million” to make, according to Variety. 

The movie stars Louis Ashbourne Serkis (son of Andy Serkis, Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) as a boy living in modern times who stumbles upon King Arthur’s legendary sword Excalibur. The film has drawn largely positive reviews.

In fifth spot — and hanging strong in its seventh week out — was Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with takings of US$6.2 million. 

Rounding out the weekend’s top 10 were:

Green Book (US$5.4 million)

A Dog’s Way Home (US$5.2 million)

Serenity (US$4.8 million)

Escape Room (US$4.3 million)

Dragon Ball Super: Broly (US$3.6 million) — AFP