'Five Nights at Freddy's' slashes to top of box office

LOS ANGELES

Horror video-game movie "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" proved jump scares can still rake in the cash with a debut that ruled North American theaters, industry estimates showed on Dec. 7.

The second film in Universal's "Freddy's" franchise — about animatronic characters at a pizza shop, the tween girl (Piper Rubio) who befriends them, and the murderous if cheesy events that follow — brought in $63 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, Exhibitor Relations reported.

It earned another $46 million internationally.

Sliding to second spot was another sequel, Disney's feel-good animated film "Zootopia 2."

The buddy cop comedy featuring a menagerie of talking animals battling stereotypes earned $43 million, for a two-week total of $220 million and a worldwide haul nearing the $1 billion mark.

Dropping one spot to third place, with $16.8 million in its third weekend, was "Wicked: For Good," Universal's second chapter in the musical saga of Oz's most notable witches, the green-skinned, outcast Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and popular pink-wearing Glinda (Ariana Grande).

The "Wizard of Oz" retelling is based on the long-running Broadway musical, itself adapted from Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel.

"Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution" landed in fourth spot in its debut. The anime-based tale of violent sorcery released by Gkids earned $10.2 million.

In fifth with $3.5 million was Lionsgate's "Now You See Me: Now You Don't," the third installment in the crime heist franchise.

Rounding out the top 10 were "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" ($3.3 million), "Eternity" ($2.7 million), "Hamnet" ($2.3 million), "Predator: Badlands" ($1.9 million) and

"Merrily We Roll Along" ($1.2 million).