After a few weeks of a terrifying clown topping the Stateside box office charts, it took a group of sharp-suited British spies (with a little assist from their colonial cousins) to unseat It from its position. But unseat it they did, as Kingsman: The Golden Circle launched in first place with $39 million, according to studio estimates.
Though it faced some mixed reviews, the new Kingsman opened ahead of the original and had a decent weekend at the global box office, where it opened in a few markets and earned a global total of more than $100 million. Marmite movie or not, it's clearly connecting on some level. It, however, still managed to earn, taking in $30 million for second. And Pennywise took home another trophy for his disturbing lair: the film is now the highest-grossing R-rated horror of all time.
There was less good news for The Lego Ninjago Movie, which extended the blocky franchise yet again, but couldn't quite the performance of either the original or its Batman spin-off. The new film launched to $21.2 million in third. American Assassin slipped to fourth on $6.2 million, while Home Again rounded out the top five with $3.3 million.
In sixth place was mother!, making $3.2 million for a $13.4 million US total so far. At seventh we find the third of the week's new movies, horror pic Friend Request, which opened more than a year ago in the UK. Sadly, it seemed to be Billy no-mates with American audiences, arriving to just $2.4 million, which won't help it even with its low $9.9 million budget.
Eighth was The Hitman's Bodyguard, taking in $1.8 million, while Jake Gyllenhaal-starring Boston marathon bombing survival drama Stronger entered the charts in a more limited release capacity, earning $1.7 million from 574 screens. Wind River wrapped up the top 10 on $1.2 million.