Jumanji: The Next Level knocked the new Stars Wars film off the top perch at the New Zealand box office in its opening weekend.

The third installment in the Jumanji franchise took over $1.7 million from December 26-29, putting it ahead of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which had opened in the top spot the week before.

Jumanji: The Next Level, which co-stars Flight of the Conchords actor Rhys Darby alongside Kevin Hart, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Karen Gillan and Jack Black, has received generally favourable reviews. It currently holds a 71 per cent "fresh" rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes and Stuff gave it a three-star rating.

Jumanji: The Next Level topped the New Zealand box office in its opening weekend, ahead of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

The Rise of Skywalker, on the other hand, holds just 55 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and has received polarised reviews.

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Elsewhere in the weekend's top five, Frozen 2 dropped from second to third place in its fifth week of release, while newcomer Cats - another divisive film - came in fourth.

Bollywood film Good Newwz opened in fifth place.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has polarised critics.

The top film of 2019 in New Zealand - and, indeed, the world - was Avengers: Endgame, which had New Zealand's biggest opening day, weekend, and week of all time.

The remake of Disney classic The Lion King is at second place on the local charts, with two other Marvel movies - Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home - in third and fourth, respectively.

Toy Story 4, Joker, Aladdin, Rocketman and Frozen 2 take out spots four through nine, while Jojo Rabbit, from Kiwi auteur Taika Waititi, is in tenth.