娱乐英语新闻:"The Devil Inside" opened as No. 1 in N. America box office

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- "The Devil Inside" overperformed this weekend as the top movie of the North America which finished ahead of a pack of Christmas holdovers including " Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol."

The latest entry into the ever popular supernatural thriller genre, the Paramount's thriller raked in 16.8 million U.S. dollars in ticket sales Friday and 12.2 million dollars Saturday, including two million dollars from midnights in 1,400 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. Paramount predicted that the film will gross 34.5 million dollars during three-day weekend, edging Tom Cruise's vehicle "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" from the No. 1 place which it had held for two weekends.

"The Devil Inside," the second film for Paramount's low-budget Insurge label, was a collaboration between William Brent Bell, who also directed the film, and his longtime writer partner Matthew Peterman. The film deals with a woman who seeks the truth about what happened during a night 20 years ago when her mother murdered three people.

Early buzz is not promising. It has received a mere seven percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a market research firm, and garnered "No," a negative rating from users of online ticket seller Fandango, based on 900 reviews. Critics from Rotten Tomatoes agreed that the second film from Paramount Insurge amounted to "a cheap, choppy unscary mess, featuring one of the worst endings in recent memory."

According to Paramount Pictures which acquired the flick for less than one million dollars, moviegoers are polarized in their views about the small-budget film. Sixteen percent of those who has seen the film gave it an "A" CinemaScore, while 19 percent came up with "F".

Fifty-four percent of the audience was male and 59 percent was under 25, according to the studio.

"Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol," the 2011 topper in its fourth week of exhibition, was predicted to sell another 20.5 million dollars in tickets, ending in second place. It is on track for a 170.2 million dollar four-week total.

"Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows" was No. 3 this weekend, taking in 14.1 million dollars for a four-week running total of 157.4 million dollars.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies in North America this weekend are "The Girl With The Golden Tattoo" (11.4 million dollars), "Alvin And the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" (9.5 million dollars), "War Horse" (8.6 million dollars), "We Bought A Zoo" (8. 5 million dollars), "The Adventures Of Tintin" (5.8 million dollars), "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (5.8 million dollars), and "New Year's Eve" (3.3 million dollars).