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EPA
Downton Abbey cast at the film’s premiere
The Downton Abbey movie reigned over the North American box office chart in its first weekend, delivering a sucker punch to the new Rambo sequel.
A close race had been predicted between Downton and Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo: Last Blood for the number one spot.
The big screen version of the British TV favourite took $31m (£25m), according to studio estimates.
Brad Pitt’s Ad Astra entered at number two with $19.2m (£15m), pushing the fifth Rambo film into third with $19m.
The Downton movie, which sees the king and queen visit the Crawley family, was released in the US and Canada a week after it came out in the UK, where it topped the chart with debut weekend takings of £5.1m.
Downton Abbey was also hugely popular in the US.
The US box office success of a TV period drama came on the weekend that British television shows won big at the Emmy Awards.
Last week’s number one It: Chapter Two dropped to number four at the box office, with Hustlers in fifth place.
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