Maleficent propels Angelina Jolie to top of US box office
Jolie has proved that female-driven films have pulling power
Disney live-action film Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, has debuted at the top of the North American box office, taking $70m (£41m).
The film, based on the villain from Sleeping Beauty, has given Jolie her biggest box office debut to date.
"The whole movie kind of rises and sets on her performance," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak.
Last weekend's number one, X-Men: Days of Future Past, dropped to second.
It took $32.6 million (£19.4m).
The weekend's second highest new entry was Seth MacFarlane's Western comedy, A Million Ways to Die in the West, starring Liam Neeson, Charlize Theron and Amanda Seyfried.
But it was a weak opening - $17.1m (£10.2m) - when compared with McFarlane's Ted, which opened with $54.4m in 2012.
Despite its success, Maleficent could not match the financial power of Disney's other recent re-imagined fairytales, Alice in Wonderland - which opened with $116m in 2010 - and Oz the Great and Powerful, which took $79m in its debut weekend last year.
Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromber - the production designer on Alice in Wonderland and Oz the Great and Powerful, received mixed reviews from critics.
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