Box office: ‘Maleficent’ casts a spell on Friday audiences

Angelina Jolie’s first live-action role in four years looks to be a lucrative one thus far as “Maleficent� surged to the top of a crowded summer field with an estimated $24 million in ticket sales on Friday.

The Disney spinoff from “Sleeping Beauty� that looks to turn that film’s villain into a big-screen star is expected to bring in $60 million in the U.S. and Canada through Sunday, according to those who have seen prerelease audience surveys. “Maleficent� is Jolie’s biggest onscreen appearance since “The Tourist� premiered in 2010.

The previous weekend’s box-office champ, “X-Men: Days of Future Past,� was left behind in second place on Friday amid all that Disney magic. The film pulled in an estimated $9.4 million, pushing its total to this point above the $130-million mark.

“Maleficent’s� strong start came at the expense of another film debuting at the box office, the Seth MacFarlane comedy “A Million Ways to Die in the West.� Starring MacFarlane alongside Charlize Theron and Liam Neeson, the western sendup took in an estimated $6.1 million on Friday and may have been hampered by less-than-favorable reviews. The film earned just a 34% favorable score on the movie review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

Rounding out the top five, “Godzilla� collected an estimated $3.3 million in fourth place, followed by the Seth Rogen and Zac Efron comedy “Neighbors, with another $2.4 million, according to estimates.