“Crazy Rich Asians” added US$25 million to its haul from US and Canadian theatres this weekend, ComScore Inc. estimated in an email Sunday. STX Entertainment’s “The Happytime Murders” opened in third place, while Global Road’s “A.X.L.” made its debut in ninth place.

The success of “Crazy Rich Asians” has been welcomed by Asian filmmakers seeking greater representation in Hollywood. Other minorities like Latinos are also hoping the movie will open doors for others to have mainstream success. BoxOfficePro.com was forecasting North American sales of US$17.5 million this weekend.

The film, based on the novels by Kevin Kwan, dropped just 6% from the previous weekend, a rare achievement for a movie not released during a holiday. Its success has already inspired distributor Warner Bros. to start work on a sequel with director Jon Chu. Kwan’s follow-up book “China Rich Girlfriend” was No. 2 on Amazon.com Inc.’s charts this week, up 16 spots from last week.

“Crazy Rich Asians” also opened in Asia this week, including atop the Singapore box office, bringing its overseas sales to US$84 million, according to Warner Bros.

“The Happytime Murders” opened with sales of US$10 million, missing Box Office Mojo’s forecast for US$13.5 million and a debut in second place.

The film stars Melissa McCarthy, Elizabeth Banks and Maya Rudolph in a murder mystery about puppets who are being killed off one by one. The picture cost about US$40 million to make. Just only 28% of critics recommended the movie, according to RottenTomatoes.com.

The other new release of the week, “A.X.L.,” opened in about 1,700 theatres and took in US$2.94 million for Global Road, which exceeded expectations. The film is about a top-secret robot dog that befriends and protects a young man. Box Office Pro was predicting US$1.75 million in weekend sales for the picture, which was recommended by just 20% of critics.