It was 36 years in the coming, but Warner Bros.’ new comedy horror “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” scored a sensational opening this weekend, earning an estimated $110 million in North American theaters, analysts said. Tim Burton’s original “Beetlejuice” had a slow start - it took in a mere $8 million at its 1988 opening - but “this time, audiences knew what to expect and it’s a mainstream smash,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. The new film again stars Michael Keaton in the grimly hilarious title role and includes two other veterans of the campy original, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.

New to the cast are Jenna Ortega (whose role as TV’s creepy “Wednesday” made her a natural for the role), Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe. Longtime box-office leader “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the Disney and Marvel superhero comedy, was a very distant second, with $7.2 million in ticket sales for the Friday-through-Sunday period, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said. Overall, the Ryan Reynolds/Hugh Jackman film hasn’t done badly, however, taking in close to $1.3 billion domestically and abroad in its seven weeks out.

In third, up one spot from last weekend, was biopic “Reagan” from ShowBiz Direct and MJM Entertainment, at $5.2 million. Dennis Quaid stars in a sympathetic look at the life of the 40th US president. In fourth place, down two spots, was sci-fi horror film “Alien: Romulus,” from Disney-owned 20th Century Studios, at $3.9 million. Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson play space colonists who encounter deadly xenomorphs in an abandoned space station. The weekend’s fifth spot went to Sony romance drama “It Ends With Us,” at $3.8 million. Blake Lively stars and co-produced the film, whose accumulated foreign and domestic ticket sales now surpass $300 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“The Forge” ($2.9 million)

“Twisters” ($2.3 million)

“Blink Twice” ($2.1 million)

“Despicable Me 4” ($1.8 million)

“The Front Room” ($1.7 million).  — AFP