'Divergent' Dominates At Opening Weekend Box-Office, Earns $56 Million

The hotly anticipated sci-fi epic 'Divergent,' which is based on Veronica Roth's best-selling novel, was the pick of the weekend by cinemagoers as it dominated the North American box office, earning the No.1 spot with $56 million.

The successful weekend marks the second best opening of 2014, with 'The Lego Movie' only beating it with $69 million when released in February, and the weekend's figures also give 'Divergent' a solid launch into the future of the movies' franchise.

The plot follows a teenage girl named Beatrice "Tris" Prior (Shailene Woodley) and centers around her extraordinary circumstances, as she becomes aware that there is no one else like her.

Watch the trailer for 'Divergent' here

In a futuristic Chicago, society is split into five different sectors based on the residents personality traits- Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). But Beatrice is Divergent, meaning she does not belong to any one sector.

On the discovery of this, Tris is hunted down to be exterminated due to a sinister leader who wants absolute total control of the population. But when uncovering a plot against her perfect society, Tris needs to utilize this gift in order to save her loved ones.

To to next page to see rest of this weekend's box office results

The sci-fi epic had little competition from this weekend's other movies, and landing in second place was Disney's The Muppets sequel 'The Muppets Most Wanted' which underperformed by earning $16.5 million.

The DreamWorks animation 'Mr. Peaboy & Sherman,' which was No.1 last week with $21 million, falls into 3rd position with a modest $11.7 million.

'300: Rise of an Empire' comes in at No.4 with 8.7 million, and round off the top 5 is another new release, the Christian-based independent movie 'God's Not Dead.'

See the rest of this weekend's top ten films, via Box Office Mojo, below:

1. 'Divergent' - $56 million

2. 'Muppets Most Wanted' - $16.5 million

3. 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman' - $11.7 million

4. '300: Rise of an Empire' - $8.7 million

5. 'God's Not Dead' - $8.6 million

6. 'Need for Speed' - $7.8 million

7. 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' - $6.8 million

8. 'Non-Stop' - $6.3 million

9. 'The Lego Movie' - $4.1 million

10. 'The Single Moms Club' - $3.1 million

Watch our 'Divergent' featurette here