Despite the stellar performance of La La Land, box office overall is 11% down on the previous session, and also 5% down on the equivalent weekend from 2016, when The Revenant ruled the roost, ahead of new entrant Ride Along 2.
La La Land has an 8.7/10 user rating at IMDb, and a 93/100 score at MetaCritic.
La La Land benefits from no existing audience familiarity with the source material.
While La La Land benefits from some strong commercial elements, notably likable actors Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the lead roles, the film represented a huge risk.