The new Warner Bros. movie ‘Space Jam: A new legacy’ has raced to the top of the box office charts on its first weekend. The movie raked in an estimated $31.6 million in North America this week, reports AFP. These were the best figures recorded by a family film since the COVID-19 pandemic brought the entertainment industry to a standstill in 2020.

The live action/animated movie has NBA superstar LeBron James teaming up with Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters in a high-stakes basketball game against a rogue artificial-intelligence entity threatening his son. It is the sequel of the movie Space Jam, which had released 25 years ago.

The film surprised everyone and made a mark at the box office despite middling-to-terrible reviews. The New York Post had described the movie as an ‘abomination’. Space Jam beat last weekend’s box office leader ‘Black widow’, Marvel’s superhero flick.

Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson, took in $25.6 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, down sharply from its $80.4 million opening, according to industry watcher Exhibitor Relations.

The third place in the weekend box office list was bagged by ‘Escape Room: Tournament of Champions’. The psychological thriller by Sony mae $8.8 million. Taylor Russell and Logan Miller, reprising their roles in 2019’s ‘Escape Room,’ face a series of deadly traps and puzzles set by the evil Minos.

Fourth place went to Universal’s “F9: The Fast Saga,” at $7.6 million, bringing the four-week domestic total of the Vin Diesel/John Cena action thriller to $154 million.

And in fifth was Universal’s animated “Boss Baby: Family Business,” at $4.7 million.

Meantime, “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” — the Focus Features/CNN Films movie about the world-traveling chef — had the best opening of a documentary this year, at $1.9 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“The Forever Purge” ($4.2 million)

“A Quiet Place: Part II” ($2.3 million)

“Roadrunner” ($1.9 million)

“Cruella” ($1.1 million)

“Pig” ($945,000)