The fact that the original Kingsman movie made any money at the box office is still bewildering to me. Not because it's a wildly misogynistic and not particularly funny while male fantasy that's hardly more accomplished than any given episode of James Bond Junior. If anything, that explains exactly how it made so much money. What's confusing about it's ascension to franchise seedling is that there was nothing particularly gripping about the trailer or any of the marketing, no sense of distinctness. Perhaps I have just underestimated the pull of the fanbase that has surrounded Mark Millar, who wrote the Kingsman source material, and Matthew Vaughn, who directed Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kick-Ass.

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Image via Warner Bros.

Whatever the reason for people paying hard-earned money for this self-satisfied trash, its proven to be enough. That's the lesson that can be learned from the early performance of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which unseated It as the number one movie in America on Friday with $15.3 million. And considering that Kingsman: The Secret Service had only accumulated some $10 million on its opening Friday, there's every reason to believe The Golden Circle will outperform the original and lay the track-work for the already announced third Kingsman movie. Despite my intense dislike for The Secret Service, The Golden Circle is unfathomably worse, so lord know what travesties awaits.

It still has plenty of juice, however, as it holds steady in the number two spot with $9 million over the $5.8 million of this week's other major opener, The LEGO Ninjago Movie. In comparison, the original LEGO Movie brought in over $17 million by Friday, and this year's The LEGO Batman Movie came in with over $14 million by the time Saturday morning came around. Still, it might give It a run for its money over the next two days, and should keep American Assassin and Home Again in the fourth and fifth spots through Sunday evening. That being said, the former is currently right on Ninjago's tail with $5.3 million, as opposed to the latter's minuscule $1 million take. The Golden Circle, one of the worst sequels to ever see the light of day, will win the weekend but below that, it's anyone's game at this point.

Here's your top five for Friday:

Title

Friday Domestic BO

Total Domestic BO

1. ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’

$15,325,000

$15,325,000

2. ‘It’

$9,080,000

$245,418,881

3. ‘The LEGO Ninjago Movie’

$5,800,000

$5,800,000

4. ‘American Assassin’

$5,334,160

$21,779,459

5. ‘Home Again’

$1,064,000

$20,099,831

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Image via Lionsgate
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Image via Open Road Films
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Image via Warner Bros. / New Line Cinema