LOS ANGELES — It's a three-peat for ''Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.''
The Tim Burton legacy sequel to his 1988 horror comedy topped the North American box office charts for the third straight weekend with $26 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
It edged out the animated new release ''Transformers: One,'' which brought in $25 million. The Optimus Prime origin story from Paramount Pictures featuring the voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson earned $39 million globally.
''Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,'' a Warner Bros. release with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder returning as stars, has earned more than $226 million domestically in its three weeks after a monster opening of $110 million — the third best of the year — and a second weekend of $51.6 million. It has now earned $329.8 million globally.
Third place went to the James McAvoy horror ''Speak No Evil,'' which came in at $5.9 million in its second week for a total of $21.5 million.
But for ''Beetlejuice,'' the box office was in a quiet phase that is expected to break when '' Joker: Folie à Deux '' dances its way onto the big screen on Oct. 4.
''September has been a bit of a sleepy month and with around 47% of the revenue being generated by this single film,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. ''Fortunately, October is on track to deliver interesting blockbusters.''
The year's second-highest grosser '' Deadpool & Wolverine '' remained in the top 5 in its ninth weekend with another $3.9 million and a domestic total of $627 million. Only Pixar's ''Inside Out 2'' has earned more.
