LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Paramount's action-adventure comedy film "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" raced to the No. 1 spot at the North American box office on its opening weekend with an estimated three-day cume of 62 million U.S. dollars, data from the measurement firm Comscore showed on Sunday.

Based on the video game series published by Sega, the film, directed by Jeff Fowler, is the sequel to 2022's box office hit "Sonic the Hedgehog 2." With their abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance to stop Shadow, a mysterious villain, and protect the planet.

"Sonic the Hedgehog 3" has earned an approval rating of 86 percent based on 96 reviews to date on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes and an "A" from audiences polled by the market research firm CinemaScore.

Another newcomer, Disney's photorealistic CGI-animated film "Mufasa: The Lion King" opened in second place this weekend with 35 million dollars in North America for a global total of 122.2 million dollars.

Rounding out the top three, Universal Pictures' musical fantasy film "Wicked" took in 13.5 million dollars on its fifth weekend for a North American cume of 359 million dollars. ■