Weekend Box Office Report: Maleficent Scorches The Competition

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.