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Ride Along steers into first place at the box office

Los Angeles - Police comedy Ride Along made its debut at the top of the North American box office, arresting viewers' attention over the US holiday weekend, industry estimates showed on Sunday.



The film, starring funnyman Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, raked in $41.2m over the normal Friday-to-Sunday weekend, pushing last week's favourite, Lone Survivor, into second place, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr Day weekend that includes Monday, the cop duo pulled in $47.7m compared to $27.6m by the Afghan war drama.

Lone Survivor, starring Mark Wahlberg, is based on a book by the only Navy SEAL commando to survive a raid targeting an Islamist fighter, one of the war's deadliest incidents.

In a weekend of multiple movie debuts, The Nut Job, an animated tale about a squirrel forced from his park and into the big city, took in $27.2m over four days, scoring third place in the box office.



And Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit debuted in fourth with $20m. The action adventure, starring Chris Pine, is a prequel and fifth film in the series based on author Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books.

The franchise began with 1990's The Hunt for Red October, and has starred Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck in the leading role over the years.

Falling to fifth place was Disney animated musical Frozen, a loosely based retelling of a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale. It added another $16.4m in earnings, bringing its nine-week North American total to $337m.

American Hustle slides into 6th place

Critically acclaimed comedy American Hustle, fresh off its top-prize win at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards on Saturday, earned $12.7m, sliding one spot to sixth place.



The film  starring Christian Bale and Amy Adams as grifters who team up with an FBI agent played by Bradley Cooper  scored 10 Oscars nominations Thursday and took best musical/comedy film at the Golden Globes a week ago.

Debuting in seventh was pregnancy horror flick Devil's Due, which earned $9.5m in its first weekend.



Meanwhile eighth place went to August: Osage County, about a family that is convened amid crisis and the dysfunctional matriarch, played by Meryl Streep, who unites them. The film, also starring Julia Roberts, brought in $9m.

Falling from fourth to ninth with $8.9m in earnings was Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, based on the rise and fall of disgraced financier Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

And rounding out the top 10 with nearly $5.1m was Saving Mr. Banks, a drama about Walt Disney's quest to make a film adaptation of Mary Poppins.

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