‘Lego Batman’ earns $56 million, tops ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ in a battle of toy-happy sequels

Even when he’s only molded plastic, you just can’t outdarken the Dark Knight.

In a battle of toy-laden sequels, “The Lego Batman Movie” topped “Fifty Shades Darker” to win the box-office weekend in North American theaters, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

Warner Bros./DC’s “Lego Batman” performed slightly below expectations but still grossed $55.6 million – the biggest domestic debut so far this year. “Fifty Shades” finished with $46.8 million, followed by the opening of another sequel, “John Wick 2” ($30 million).

“Fifty Shades” led “Lego Batman” after opening night, grossing $21.5 million on date-friendly Friday to “Batman’s” $15 million.

The DC superhero’s margin of victory, though, was almost entirely earned on Sunday, as “Lego Batman” grossed $17.6 million to “Darker’s” $9.5 million.

The audience for “Lego Batman” split nearly evenly among females and males, and slightly more viewers were younger than 25.

“Lego Batman” has scored both commercially and critically, receiving an A-minus CinemaScore; a solid 75 on MetaCritic.com; and a 91 percent on RottenTomatoes.com.

“Lego Batman” also scored better among critics than WB/DC’s past three superhero films: “Suicide Squad” (40 on Metacritic); “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (44); and “Man of Steel” (55).

“Lego Batman,” however, still fell short of its forerunner, 2013’s “Lego Movie” (Metacritic score: 83), which opened to $69 million en route to grossing $258 million domestically (and approaching the half-billion-dollar mark worldwide).

The first two Lego films have grossed a combined $562 million globally.

And the bottom line for WB/DC is that the Lego franchise is staying strong ahead of the studio’s release of “Lego Ninjago” in September.