Scottish actor Gerard Butler arrives for the Los Angeles premiere of "Angel Has Fallen" at the Regency Village theatre on August 20, 2019 in Westwood, California -- the film rocketed to to the top of the North American box office in its debut. — AFP Photo

LOS ANGELES — Lionsgate's new action-packed political thriller Angel Has Fallen debuted atop the North American box office with an estimated US$21.3 million in ticket sales, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

Angel, which stars Gerard Butler playing a Secret Service agent wrongly accused of trying to kill the president (Morgan Freeman), is the third film in the franchise. It also stars Nick Nolte, Piper Perabo and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Last weekend's leader, Universal's raunchy tween comedy Good Boys, slipped to $11 million but managed to hold onto second spot on a sleepy late-summer weekend.

In third place was another new release, Sony's Overcomer, a Christian-themed movie about a former basketball coach (Alex Kendrick) who agrees half-heartedly to help prepare a young asthmatic orphan girl (Aryn Wright-Thompson) for a huge cross-country meet.

It took in $8.2 million despite tepid reviews.

Just behind in fourth place was Disney's updated version of The Lion King, which pulled in $8.15 million, bringing its domestic total over six weeks in release to $510.6 million and its global total to more than $1.5 billion.

Universal's action film Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw with Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Jason Statham came in fifth, taking in $8.1 million.

Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were:

Ready or Not ($7.6 million)

The Angry Birds Movie 2 ($6.4 million)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ($6 million)

Dora & the Lost City of Gold ($5.2 million)

Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood ($5 million). — AFP