Latest 'John Wick' tops box office in a big, bloody opening

Lionsgate's neo-noir action thriller ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ opened this weekend with North American ticket sales estimated at an impressive $73.5 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

Analyst David A Gross called it "a superb opening," noting that each Wick sequel has managed to outdo its predecessors.

Reviews have been mostly positive: "Would that all action films were so well and cleanly choreographed," the Washington Post gushed; but some reviewers saw the body count -- more than 100 per bloody Wick movie -- as a bit much.

‘Chapter 4’ owes its choreography largely to director Chad Stahelski, himself a former stunt man. Starring along with Reeves, in a tale that has the titular hitman fighting a powerful international crime group -- are Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard and Laurence Fishburne.

Last weekend's box office leader, ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ took in just $9.7 million, slipping to second place, in what Variety called "one of the worst turnouts for a modern superhero movie." The DC/Warner Bros. film stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel and Adam Brody.

In third spot was ‘Scream VI’ from Paramount and Spyglass Media, at $8.4 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period. Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega and Skeet Ulrich star in the horror flick.

In fourth was yet another sequel, United Artists' boxing drama ‘Creed III’, at $8.37 million. Michael B Jordan directs and plays the title character; his co-star Jonathan Majors was arrested Saturday for allegedly assaulting a woman in a domestic dispute.

And in fifth, down one spot from last weekend, was sci-fi thriller ‘65’ from Sony and Columbia Pictures, at $3.3 million. Adam Driver stars in a time-travel saga that juxtaposes space ships and dinosaurs.

Rounding out the top 10 were: ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ ($2.4 million); ‘Cocaine Bear’ ($2.1 million); ‘Jesus Revolution’ ($2 million), ‘Champions’ ($1.5 million); ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ ($1.4 million).