DHAKA: Actress Angelina Jolie said on Tuesday she was thrilled her latest film ‘Maleficent’, a modern retelling of the life of Sleeping Beauty’s arch-nemesis, had debuted at the top of the box office.

Maleficent raked in nearly US$70 million in North America over the past weekend.

The movie not only casts Jolie in the title role as the malevolent fairy but was also produced by the star.

‘This type of film is really one you do for the audience. It thrills me that people are enjoying it and it's a success,’ she told a news conference in Shanghai, where she is promoting the movie before its mainland China opening on June 20.

China had the world’s second largest box office at US$3.6 billion last year, behind only North America, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

It has attracted a steady stream of Hollywood stars promoting their works.

BDST: 1907 HRS, JUNE 03, 2014