Irishman Farrell Rings Up U.S. Box Office Honors
Sunday April 6 3:04 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Irish actor Colin Farrell, one of the hottest new stars in Hollywood, dialed his third consecutive No. 1 movie at the North American box office on Sunday as the thriller "Phone Booth" finally reached theaters almost five months behind schedule.

"Phone Booth" rang up $15 million in ticket sales in its first three days since opening on April 4, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday. Farrell plays a New York publicist who picks up a ringing telephone in a phone booth only to learn that he is in the sights of a sniper.

The movie, which cost a modest $13 million, was pulled from its original Nov. 15 berth because real-life snipers were terrorizing the Washington, D.C., area at the time.

"Considering the journey this picture has taken, I'm just totally delighted with this result," said Bruce Snyder, president of distribution at the film's producer, Twentieth Century Fox.

Farrell topped the box office twice in February with "The Recruit" and "Daredevil," thereby giving "Phone Booth" some visibility that it may not have had five months ago. Also in that time, the outspoken 26-year-old Dublin native has become a staple of the gossip pages.

The film also marks a comeback for director Joel Schumacher, whose career hit a slow patch after his disappointing "Batman & Robin" movie killed off the lucrative franchise in 1997.

Fox is a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group Inc.

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