LOS ANGELES » Captain America and Iron Man found their match at the weekend box office in a group of furious fowl.

Sony Pictures and Rovio Entertainment’s “The Angry Birds Movie” dethroned “Captain America: Civil War,” the comic book mashup from Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel Studios, while new releases “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” from Universal and Warner Bros.’ “The Nice Guys” found themselves relatively close behind.

“Angry Birds” pulled in an estimated $39 million in the U.S. and Canada, coming in just shy of analysts’ $40 million projections.

“It’s a huge success already,” said Rory Bruer, Sony’s distribution chief. “The movie is playing well everywhere.”

The $73 million film is adapted from the popular video game of the same name first released by Rovio, a Finnish company, in 2009. Actors including Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride and Maya Rudolph lend their voices to some of the feathered friends with a temper.

Audiences and critics appear split on the picture. Moviegoers gave it a respectable B-plus grade, according to polling firm CinemaScore, but only 42 percent of critics on Rotten Tomatoes ranked it favorably.

Sony “always felt very confident that this was a movie that was going to work” with audiences, Bruer said.

“Rovio, in regards to the love of the game and its DNA being worldwide, did great at coming up with the right story,” he said.

The production and marketing cost was covered by Rovio, minimizing the risk for Sony, which took care of distribution. Starting nine months out, the pair began marketing the film by capitalizing on the title’s built-in social and digital following. The promotional campaign was one of Sony’s largest ever, featuring tie-ins with McDonald’s, Ziploc, Panasonic and more than 100 partners worldwide.

Such a strategy paid off as the picture has also taken in an estimated $111 million internationally for a worldwide cumulative rounding out at $150 million.

In second place was “Captain America,” which, in its third week, met analyst expectations of $30 million to $35 million as it added another $33.1 million to its stellar run.

The comic book mashup also passed the $1 billion global box office mark (currently sitting at $1.1 billion), becoming the 19th highest-grossing movie to date globally. It has now trumped “The Dark Knight,” “Star Wars Episode 1” and “Jurassic Park” among others.

Universal’s “Neighbors 2” landed in the third spot with $21.8 million, well below analysts’ $35 million expectations. Such a performance is also well below its predecessor’s $49 million debut in 2014.

In the first “Neighbors,” Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne played a couple navigating parenthood while battling a fraternity led by Zac Efron. Rogen, Byrne and Efron reprise their roles for the follow-up, in which the couple this time faces off with a sorority, led by series newcomer Chloe Grace Moretz, that moves in next door.

The original amassed $150 million domestically and $120 million internationally for a global total of $270 million. As for the second film in the franchise, which cost $35 million to make, its future is uncertain.

Comedy sequels are often a gamble, as evidenced by flops such as “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” and “Zoolander 2,” but the studio hopes the feminine focus, relatively positive reviews and the return of director Nicholas Stoller will help draw crowds.

Audiences and critics have reported favoring the flick. It received a B CinemaScore and a 61 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Neighbors 2” has grossed an estimated $30 million internationally to date.

WB’s “The Nice Guys,” another new release, took fourth place with $11.3 million in the U.S. and Canada, surpassing analyst projections of $10 million.

The R-rated film stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as a pair of detectives who uncover a vast conspiracy while investigating the death of a porn star in Los Angeles. It was directed and co-written by “Lethal Weapon” writer Shane Black and produced by “The Matrix’s” Joel Silver.

Movie critics led the way with overwhelmingly positive responses to the noir-style thriller — 90 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics liked the film. Audiences also weren’t disappointed as they gave it a B-minus CinemaScore.

Disney’s “The Jungle Book” took home the fifth spot in its seventh week in theaters. The adapted Rudyard Kipling tale added another $11 million from the U.S. and Canada for a domestic gross to date of $327.5 million. It has taken in about $857.7 million globally.

This week, the cineplex will get even more crowded as Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” and Fox’s “X-Men: Apocalypse” battle for the box-office crown

——

©2016 Los Angeles Times