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  US$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. Overall, it has raked in more than $250 million in North America.

Last week’s box office leader, War For the Planet of the Apes – the latest installation in the saga of intelligent primates’ battle against an evil human dictator – raked in $20.4 million in its second week for fourth place.

Rounding out the top five was another debut, Luc Besson’s $180 million space fantasy Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

The EuropaCorp-financed film starring Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, said to be the most expensive independent film ever made, grossed just over $17 million. — AFP

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Despicable Me 3" ($12.7 million)

"Baby Driver" ($6.0 million)

"The Big Sick" ($5.0 million)

"Wonder Woman" ($4.6 million)

"Wish Upon" ($2.5 million)