WASHINGTON — Horror-thriller A Quiet Place, a movie featuring barely three minutes of dialogue, made a resounding debut in North American theaters over the three-day weekend, taking in an estimated US$50 million, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said on Sunday.

That gave the Paramount film the second highest domestic opening of the year, behind only the Disney/Marvel blockbuster Black Panther, in one of the top openings ever for a horror flick.

A Quiet Place is built around a simple but chilling premise: flesh-eating creatures have invaded Earth, but they are blind and can track their prey only by sound.

So actor/director John Krasinski, his wife (in the film and in real life) Emily Blunt and their children must adapt – through sign language and ingenious adaptations – or die.

The film has drawn rave reviews, with a 97 per cent Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Last week’s box-office leader, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One – a futuristic homage to films of the 1980s – came in second this weekend at $25.1 million. The Warner Bros. film tells the story of a teenage gamer (Wade Watts) who finds himself inside an addictive virtual reality world.

In third was another new release, Universal’s Blockers, at $21.4 million. A raunchy comedy starring John Cena and Leslie Mann, the movie drew considerable buzz at the South by Southwest film festival.

Still flourishing in its eighth week out, Black Panther netted $8.4 million for fourth spot. Already the highest-grossing superhero film in US history, its cumulative total in the US and Canada now exceeds $665 million. The film stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong’o.

In fifth was faith-based drama I Can Only Imagine from Roadside Attractions, at $8.4 million. The movie, starring J. Michael Finley as lead singer in a popular Christian band, was made for a modest $7 million and now has a North American net of $69 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

Tyler Perry’s Acrimony ($8.1 million)

Chappaquiddick ($6.2 million)

Sherlock Gnomes ($5.6 million)

Pacific Rim: Uprising ($4.9 million)

Isle of Dogs ($4.6 million). — AFP