LOS ANGELES: Big-budget World War II epic Dunkirk stormed to the top of the North American box office in its opening weekend on the strength of stellar reviews and a sterling big screen debut by pop star Harry Styles, industry estimates showed on Sunday.

The film directed by Briton Christopher Nolan — which took in an estimated $50.5 million in the United States and Canada, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations — has been hailed by many critics as a masterpiece.

It stars One Direction singer Styles in the retelling of the heroic evacuation in 1940 of hundreds of thousands of Allied troops from a beach in northern France under constant German bombardment.

Raunchy comedy Girls Trip starring Queen Latifah and Will Smith’s better half Jada Pinkett Smith, debuted in second place with $30.4 million in tickets sold.

Third place went to Spider-Man: Homecoming, which pulled in $22 million in its third week of release.

Last week’s box office leader, War For the Planet of the Apes raked in $20.4 million in its second week for fourth place.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2017