娱乐英语新闻:"Immortals" storms weekend box office with better-than-expected opening

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- "Immortals," an R-rated Greek mythology-inspired epic released by Relativity Media, has won over a large number of fanboys across North America this weekend, with a better-than-expected opening over the Veterans Day weekend.

The fantasy actioner is projected to take in a strong 32 million U.S. dollars in movie ticket sales from 3,112 venues in the Unites States and Canada, of which two-thirds, or 66 percent, come from 3-D screens, according to Relativity Media. This contributes in part to the strong showing, according to the studio.

The receipt is seven million dollars more than what the studio had previously projected, representing the studio's highest- opening movie as a distributor. The film is the third-highest R- rated film debut this year behind "Hangover 2," which opened to 85 million dollars, and "Paranormal Activity 3," which debuted to 52 million dollars, according to the studio.

The swords-and-sandals actioner, directed by Tarsem Singh and starring Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto and Mickey Rourke, tells how Theseus, a mortal played by Cavill, chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the evil King Hyperion, played by Rourke, protected his homeland and saved the gods. However, the film received generally negative feedback from critics and audiences as well. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 37 percent of 67 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 4.9/10. Critics agreed that the movie is characterized by "slack, boring storytelling."

Moviegoers gave it a B rating, according to audience review aggregator firm CinemaScore. Many of the audiences were male, who made up 60 percent, and 75 percent of the audience was younger than 35.

Adam Sandler's "Jack And Jill" also opened at the high end of industry expectations, with a 26 million dollar gross, managing to beat DreamWorks Animation's "Puss In Boots" for the second place. The PG-rated family film, which had a budget estimated at 79 million U.S. dollars, pales compared with most Adam Sandler films which generated a lot more in opening weekend.

"Puss In Boots," the Shrek prequel was on track to do 25.5 million dollars in weekend business. In three weeks of exhibition, the feature cartoon cat has grossed an estimated 108.8 million dollars in North America.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies in the United States and Canada, are "Tower Heist" (13.2 million dollars), "J. Edgar ( 11.5 million dollars in limited showings), "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas" (5.9 million dollars), "In Time" (4.2 million dollars), "Paranormal Activity 3" (3.7 million dollars), "Footloose"(2.7 million dollars), and "Real Steel"(2 million dollars).