[MAIL] It seems audiences long for the kinder, gentler days of Edwardian England, pushing Downton Abbey to the top of the box office with $31 million.The film version of the beloved costume drama series about the Earl of Grantham and the Crawley family, backed by PBS stateside and ITV in the UK, took in more than the $30 million it was projected to earn at the start of the weekend.
Starring its original cast, including Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville, it also pulled in $30.8 million overseas for a global haul of $61.8 million.
That was more than enough to beat out the more muscular offerings from Brad Pitt's space set sci-fi drama Ad Astra and Sylvester Stallone's actioner Rambo: Last Blood.
They are presently neck and neck with Ad Astra at $19.2 million and Rambo at just a shade over $19 million, although that might change when the full weekend results are tallied, according to Box Office Mojo.