Tarsem Singh's Immortals tops box office in North America

Washington: Indian director Tarsem Singh's new 3D adventure epic Immortals, starring Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto and Mickey Rourke, has opened at number one at the North American box office with an estimated $15 million in ticket sales.

Singh has become part of a very short list of Indian-born filmmakers to top the US box office multiple times. His fantasy thriller The Cell also opened at number one in August 2000.

For Pinto, Immortals marks her second top spot debut of the year following her sci-fi epic Rise of the Planet of the Apes from August which has grossed more than $450 million worldwide to date.

Singh's stylish Greek mythology-inspired epic "Immortals" beat out the combined grosses for the two other new films on Friday including Adam Sandler's latest comedy Jack and Jill that grossed $10 million as well as director Clint Eastwood's new biopic J. Edgar starring Leonardo DiCaprio which earned $4.3 million.

Immortals also generated the third biggest opening day of the year for any R-rated film, and the best among non-sequels.

A stylish and visually spectacular 3D action adventure, Immortals relates the story of a power-hungry king who razes ancient Greece in search of a legendary weapon and a heroic young villager who rises up against him in a thrilling quest as timeless as it is powerful.

Immortals is produced by Gianni Nunnari (300), Mark Canton (300) and Ryan Kavanaugh (The Fighter).