LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Despite concerns about possible outbreaks of violence, crowds still flocked to theaters over the weekend to see ``Joker,'' which opened in first place at the North American box office, according to final figures released today.
The dark origin story of the famed Batman villain debuted with $96.2 million to dominate theaters, according to box-office tracker Comscore, which called the film's success the biggest opening weekend any film has recorded in the month of October.
The big numbers came in spite of fears about possible violence at theaters showing the film. A theater in Huntington Beach briefly closed last Thursday due to a threat against the venue.
The much more family friendly animated film ``Abominable'' finished a distant second over weekend, collecting $11.9 million. The big-screen version of the television hit ``Downton Abbey'' took third place with $8 million.
The stripper crime caper ``Hustlers'' earned $6.4 million between Friday and Sunday to take fourth place, followed by the horror sequel ``IT Chapter Two,'' which earned $5.3 million. ``IT'' has earned $202.2 million in its five weeks of release.
Rounding out the top 10 films of the weekend were ``Judy'' ($4.6 million); ``Ad Astra'' ($4.2 million); ``Rambo: Last Blood'' ($3.6 million); ``War'' ($1.6 million); and ``Good Boys'' ($890,000).