By Bill Wine
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Angelina Jolie returned to the big screen for the first time in four years and moviegoers were there to greet her.
Maleficent, a new take on the Sleeping Beauty fable with Jolie in the lead role, finished first at the box office, earning an estimated $70-million on its weekend debut.
That dropped last weekend’s leader, X-Men: Days of Future Past, to second place. It took in another $33-million.
Third place was claimed by the weekend’s other new mainstream release, the Seth MacFarland western spoof, A Million Ways to Die in the West, which totaled $17-million.
And fourth was the holdover — the creature feature, Godzilla — with $12-million.
Overall, industry-wide totals were slightly ahead of last year’s pace.