LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Amazon MGM Studios' science fiction thriller "Mercy" took the top spot at the North American box office with 11.2 million U.S. dollars in its opening weekend, dethroning Disney and 20th Century's "Avatar: Fire and Ash" after 5 weeks.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, "Mercy" stars Chris Pratt as a detective in the near future who is accused of murdering his wife and must prove his innocence to an advanced AI judge he once championed.
"Mercy" holds a 20 percent approval rating based on 122 reviews on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to date. It received a "B-" grade from audiences polled by market research firm CinemaScore, which uses a standard scale from A+ to F.
James Cameron's "Avatar: Fire and Ash" dropped to second place in its sixth weekend with 7 million dollars. The third installment in the epic science fiction "Avatar" franchise has grossed 378.5 million dollars in North America for an estimated global total of 1.38 billion dollars through Sunday.
Rounding out the top three, Disney's animated comedy film "Zootopia 2" took in 5.7 million dollars in its ninth weekend for a North American total of 401.4 million dollars.
