Batman reigns at North American box offices

BALE. Genre-defining superhero trilogy runs its course.

LOS ANGELES – The Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” topped the North American box office for a third consecutive week despite last month’s mass shooting at a screening, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The final installment in the Batman trilogy finished well above its competitors, bringing in $36.4 million, according to movie tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Twelve people were killed and 58 wounded when a gunman sprayed bullets into a midnight premiere of the film in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20.

Second place, with $26 million in its debut weekend, went to science fiction action remake “Total Recall” starring Colin Farrell alongside Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel.

Coming in third was teen comedy “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” which opened with $14.7 million in box office receipts. Next came the fourth installment of a popular animated series, “Ice Age: Continental Drift” – featuring voices from an all-star cast including Jennifer Lopez and Nicki Minaj – at $8.4 million.

Fifth place went to “The Watch” starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn as part of a suburban neighborhood watch team fighting off an alien invasion. The film brought in $6.5 million.

The sixth slot with $5.5 million went to Ted, a comedy directed by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane in which Mark Wahlberg’s childhood toy comes to life. It was followed by “Step Up: Revolution” ($5.3 million), “The Amazing Spider-Man” ($4.3 million) and Pixar studio’s 3-D animated fairytale “Brave” ($2.9 million).

Rounding out the top 10 was “Magic Mike,” starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey as male strippers, with $1.4 million.