"Rise Of An Empire" conquers box office

Writer: Elaine Ewe

Rodrigo Santoro reprises his role as the God-King Xerxes in "300: Rise Of An Empire".

13 Mar – "300: Rise Of An Empire" may have underwent changes in director and its leading actors, but that did not stop the action film from conquering the box office charts in the U.S., Malaysia and Singapore from 6 to 9 March.

Noam Murro's follow-up to "300" takes place before, during, and after the events of that film with a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Salamis based on the as-yet-unreleased Frank Miller graphic novel "Xerxes". The film made over USD 45 million, which is less than its predecessor, but more than films like "G.I. Joe: Retaliation", "10,000 B.C.", "Wrath Of The Titans" and "Immortals".

In the U.S., "Mr. Peabody And Sherman" also opened last week at second place. The DreamWorks Animation film tells the story about the time-travelling adventures of a talking canine and his adopted son, as they endeavour to fix a time rift they created.

Rounding up the top three in the U.S. is Jaume Collet-Serra's "Non-Stop" starring everybody's favourite action hero Liam Neeson. The film ranked second in Malaysia and Singapore.

You can't stop Liam Neeson from getting into the top three even if you wanted to.

In Malaysia, top-grossing local movie "The Journey" continued to impress by staying in the top three, while in Singapore, "The Lego Movie" dropped from second place to third.

Other new movies that opened in Malaysia are "Vennira Iravuggal", "Haunt", "Hantu Bukit Cina", "Queen", "Gulaab Gang" and "Nimirndhu Nil".

Other new movies that opened in Singapore are "Le Week-End", "3 Days To Kill", "Vennira Iravuggal", "Lupin The 3rd VS Detective Conan", "The Necessary Death Of Charlie Countryman", "Filth", "Gay Dude: Date And Switch", "The Royal Bengal Tiger", "Kill Your Darlings", "Queen", "Gulaab Gang", "Nimirndhu Nil", "Hantu Bukit Cina" and "Total Siyapaa".