The Fault in Our Stars tops US box office with $48 million

The Fault in Our Stars has topped the US box office over the weekend easily beating Tom Cruise’s action movie Edge of Tomorrow.

Tom Cruise’s time-shifting movie opened in third place, taking $29.1 million, despite a budget of $175 million.

The Fault in Our Stars made $48.2 million, against a more modest budget of $12 million, topping the US box office.

Based on John Green’s book, the tragic romance stars Shailene Woodley as a teenager with cancer. The audience was 82% female, film studio figures showed.

Box office analysts Rentrak said the movie’s success, alongside the likes of Twilight and The Hunger Games, showed how big-budget, male-orientated movies now struggled against those with a large, predominantly female, teenage audience.

Film studio Twentieth Century Fox said 79% of the audience for The Fault In Our Stars was under the age of 25.

The book – about a young couple who meet at a cancer support group – generated a huge following on social media and the trailer has been watched more than 21 million times on YouTube.

Edge of Tomorrow, which co-stars Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise in a Groundhog Day-style time loop as they battle an alien invasion, appealed more to men, who made up 61% of the audience.

However, the movie did top the international box office, taking a total of $82 million around the world – much of that in China, Korea and Russia.

Elsewhere in the US chart, Maleficent dropped to second place.

The Disney fairytale, starring Angelina Jolie, took $33.5 million in its second week after debuting in the top spot.

X-Men: Days of Future Past was in fourth place with Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane’s comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West fifth.

US and Canada box Top 5:

1. The Fault in Our Stars – $48.2 million
2. Maleficent – $33.5 million
3. Edge of Tomorrow – $29.1 million
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past – $14.7 million
5. A Million Ways to Die in the West – $7.2 million

Source: Rentrak