A billboard for Christopher Nolan’s film Tenet on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood on August 19. Photo: AFP

 
Warner Bros.' sci-fi action film "Tenet" maintained its reign in North America with 2.7 million U.S. dollars from 2,722 locations during its sixth weekend of release as cinema operators are struggling to attract more moviegoers across the country.

The Christopher Nolan's latest film, starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Dimple Kapadia, has earned 45.1 million dollars in North America as of Sunday. The film took in an estimated 14.2 million dollars globally this weekend in 59 markets in release for a worldwide total of 307 million dollars, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.

"Tenet," with a reported budget of more than 200 million dollars, follows a secret agent as he manipulates the flow of time to prevent World War III.

"Tenet" hit the big screen in over 70 countries worldwide starting on Aug. 26 ahead of U.S. release in select cities on Sept. 3.

The Chinese mainland is one of the biggest theatrical territories for the film with a cume of 448 million yuan (around 65.97 million U.S. dollars) to date, according to box office data compiled by Maoyan, a movie-ticketing and film data platform.

Disney's "Hocus Pocus," a 1993 fantasy-comedy film, came in second with 1.92 million from 2,570 locations. The film, re-released in North America just for Halloween, follows a villainous comedic trio of witches who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy on Halloween night.

Some classic films were re-released to greet moviegoers as theaters are reopening after months-long closure in North America.

Fox/Disney's superhero-horror film "The New Mutants" landed in third with one million dollars from 2,154 locations in its sixth weekend for a North American total of 20.9 million dollars.

The X-Men horror spinoff is the thirteenth and final installment in the X-Men film series. Directed by Josh Boone and starring Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Heaton among others, the film follows a group of young mutants held in a secret facility fighting to save themselves.

Comscore said that 56 percent of all North American theaters are currently open. But there is no new major wide-release film this weekend in North America. Theater owners and operators face uncertain futures due to the financial devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their hope of rebound was dashed as it was announced earlier this week that the latest James Bond film, among other tentpoles, would be delayed until April 2021.

Regal Cinemas, the second-largest theater chain in the United States, is considering closing all 543 of its theaters in the country due to continued revenue losses from the pandemic, Regal's British parent company Cineworld said Sunday.