LOS ANGELES — Lionsgate's action-packed political thriller "Angel Has Fallen" debuted atop the North American box office with $21.4 million in ticket sales, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said on Monday.
Gerard Butler plays a Secret Service agent wrongly accused of trying to kill the president (Morgan Freeman) in the third film of the franchise. It also stars Nick Nolte and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Last weekend's leader, Universal's raunchy tween comedy "Good Boys," took second spot on a sleepy late-summer weekend with $11.6 million.
In third was another new release, Sony's "Overcomer," a Christian-themed movie about a former basketball coach (Alex Kendrick) who helps prepare a young asthmatic orphan (Aryn Wright-Thompson) for a huge cross-country meet.
It took in $8.1 million despite tepid reviews.
Just behind in fourth place was Universal's action film "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham, taking in just under $8.1 million on its fourth weekend.
Disney's updated version of "The Lion King" pulled in a near-identical figure for fifth place, bringing its domestic total over six weeks to $510.6 million and its global total to more than $1.5 billion.
Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were:
"Ready or Not" (8 million)
"The Angry Birds Movie 2" ($6.4 million)
"Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" ($5.9 million)
"Dora and the Lost City of Gold" ($5.3 million)
"Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood" ($5 million)