MUMBAI: American action thriller, The Grey, has surpassed analyst expectations to rake in $20 million in the US and Canadian cinemas to lead the box office over the weekend.

The Liam Neeson starring movie had earned positive appraisal from the critics and was predicted to earn $14.5 million. The movie released 27 January across 3,185 US and Canadian theatres and earned an average of $6,279 per-theatre.

The movie was bought for $5 million by distributor Open Road Films, owned by Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Cinemark Holdings Inc. It was launched in response to shrinking output by major studios.This was the distributor’s second release following “Killer Elite” in September.

The film also went past last week’s top film Underworld: Awakening, which has been relegated to second position with sales worth $12.5 million. The vampire-versus-wolf series has earned $45.1 million since it opened on 20 January.

At the third spot was Katherine Heigl-starring One for the Money, which had sales worth $11.8 million in its first weekend. While, Anthony Hemingway-directed Red Tails war film about black fighter pilots in World War Two, got $10.4 million to land in fourth place in its second weekend in theaters.

Fifth on the box office was Sam Worthington-starring thriller film Man on a Ledge with sales of $8.3 million, according to Hollywood.com Box-Office.