This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson in a scene from “42.” -AP Photo

LOS ANGELES: Baseball has scored a rare hit in Hollywood as the Jackie Robinson tale ''42'' took in $27.3 million to claim the weekend box-office championship.    

The film stars Chadwick Boseman as Robinson, who became the first black player in Major League Baseball in 1947, and Harrison Ford as Brooklyn Dodgers boss Branch Rickey, who signed No. 42 to his team, breaking the color barrier.

The Warner Bros. film biography easily beat an established franchise in ''Scary Movie 5.''

According to studio estimates Sunday, the Weinstein Co. sequel opened in second-place with $15.2 million, the smallest debut for the horror-comedy series.

Three of the previous four ''Scary Movie'' installments had debuts of $40 million or more.

On the other hand, ''42'' outdid the usual expectations for baseball movies, which usually do modest business at best.

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