'Abominable' downs 'Downton Abbey,' climbs to No. 1 With $20.8 million

"Abominable" froze out "Downton Abbey" to take the top spot in the North American box office on its first weekend in theaters, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations estimated Sunday.

The story of a teenager and her friends working to help a young Yeti — whom they nickname Everest — reunite with his family and avoid the clutches of a wealthy man intent on capturing one of the magical creatures took in $20.9 million.

It beat out "Downton Abbey," the movie follow-up to the hit TV series about a British upper-class family and their stately home, which fell to second place at $14.5 million in its second weekend.

The Jennifer Lopez movie "Hustlers" — based on a true story about strippers who plot to steal from their wealthy clients in recession-hit New York — came in third, with $11.5 million.

Horror flick "IT: Chapter Two" — which features the grown-up versions of the kids who battled the terrifying, shape-shifting clown Pennywise 27 years earlier and now must do it again — placed fourth with $10.4 million.

And "Ad Astra," in which Brad Pitt plays an astronaut sent on a dangerous mission at the edge of the solar system, was fifth at $10.1 million.

Agence France-Presse