Action thriller One Battle After Another debuts top of North American box office

Paul Thomas Anderson's action thriller One Battle After Another stormed to the top of the North American box office on its debut weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a retired radical fighter who is dragged back in to action to help his daughter, the film's veering from the ridiculous to the deadly serious had audiences riveted.

The New York Times described the film as "a carnivalesque epic about good and evil, violence and power, inalienable rights and the fight against injustice".

One Battle After Another took an estimated US$22.4 million (S$28.9 million) this weekend, according to industry group Exhibitor Relations, and has been generating early Oscar buzz for both director Anderson and lead DiCaprio.

"This is an excellent opening for an action thriller," said analyst David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. 

"The film is performing on the level of an action series launch, and that's impressive. Critics' reviews are fantastic and the audience score is outstanding."

Coming in second was Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie, a live-action/animation hybrid aimed at family audiences that put in a strong showing with an estimated US$13.7 million in sales.

The film is based on a popular children's animated series airing on streaming platform Netflix, and features the titular Gabby going on adventures with her feline friends in the animated world of her dollhouse.

Continuing its strong showing at the box office was anime feature Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, which logged a further US$7.1 million to take its estimated North American take to US$118.2 million.

Behind it, the juggernaut of horror franchise film The Conjuring: Last Rites rolled on, taking in a further US$6.9 million to push its overall pot to US$161.5 million.