'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' delivers $35M debut

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" delivered a stunning debut at the North American box office Friday with an estimated $35 million in ticket sales.

Released by 20th Century Fox, the Gavin Hood-directed prequel opened at 4,099 locations, scoring an average of $8,539 per theater. Hugh Jackman returns to reprise his role as Wolverine, who seeks revenge against Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) and William Stryker (Danny Huston).

Debuting in second place with a daily gross of $5.8 million was Mark Waters' latest comedy "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," which stars Matthew McConaughey as a celeb photographer who's visited by three ghosts while attending his brother's wedding.

Last week's winner "Obsessed" dropped to No. 3, scoring another $4.1 million for a total of $38.9 million after one week in release. Following in fourth place with $1.9 million was Zac Efron's comedy "17 Again," which brought its domestic total to $44.1 million.

At No. 5, Joe Wright's "The Soloist" took home $1.6 million, reaching a cumulative gross of $14.1 million. And as for "Battle for Terra," the week's third wide release, it pulled in $250,000. That's only double the opening day gross of last year's "Delgo," which got pulled from theaters after a one-week run.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)