'Warm Bodies' tops N. America box office

The romantic zombie comedy "Warm Bodies" topped the North American box office on its opening weekend, industry estimates said Sunday, earning more than twice as much as its nearest rival.

"Warm Bodies," based on Isaac Marion's book of the same name inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, took a healthy $20 million (RM62 mil) in sales.

"Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunt," a horror movie twist on the classic fairy tale took a distant second, pulling in $9.2 million (RM28.6 mil).

Oscars season has helped a string of contenders stay in the top 10, with romantic comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" taking third place this week with $8.1 million (RM25.2 mil) in takings, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Horror flick "Mama," in which a shadowy being trails two young children rescued after being lost in the woods when their parents died, fell from second to fourth place on its third weekend in theaters, with $6.7 million (RM20.8 mil) in sales.

The Oscar-tipped Osama bin Laden manhunt movie "Zero Dark Thirty" slipped to fifth place with $5.3 million (RM16.5 mil), followed by Sylvester Stallone's latest effort, "Bullet to the Head," which opened in sixth place with $4.5 million (RM14 mil).

"Parker," starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez working together on a heist, fell from fifth to seventh place on its second weekend in theaters, taking $3.2 million (RM10 mil) in box office sales.

Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked spaghetti Western tribute "Django Unchained," which last month won two Globes Globes and gained four Oscar nominations, was in eighth spot, earning $3.0 million (RM 9.3 mil).

That put it ahead of musical adaptation "Les Miserables," which took in $2.44 million (RM7.6), in ninth place.

Rounding out the top 10 was "Lincoln," Steven Spielberg's Oscar hopeful starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the revered 19th century US president, which with $2.41 million (RM 7.5 mil) re-entered the chart by jumping up one place from 11th last week.