LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - "The Fault in Our Stars," a heart-wrenching love story about teens who meet in a cancer support group, won over moviegoers with a stellar $48.2 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales over the weekend.
It easily beat the debut of Tom Cruise's new big-budget sci-fi action film "Edge of Tomorrow", which had to settle for third place with $29.1 million from Friday through Sunday, according to estimates from tracking firm Rentrak.
"Maleficent," starring Angelina Jolie in Walt Disney Co's reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, took in $33.5 million from Friday through Sunday to finish second.
"The Fault in Our Stars," based on a best-selling book by John Green, stars Shailene Woodley as a teen girl who wheels around an oxygen tank as she fights metastatic cancer. Ansel Elgort plays her boyfriend, who lost a leg to the disease.
"Edge of Tomorrow" stars Cruise as a military public relations specialist who finds himself forced onto the front lines and relives the same battle over and over. Emily Blunt co-stars as the army's celebrated fighter.
"The Fault in Our Stars" was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of 21st Century Fox. Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, released "Edge of Tomorrow."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Chris Michaud; Editing by Tom Heneghan)