The family horror movie, based on the popular children’s book series, stars Jack Black as horror writer R.L. Stine, whose imaginary demon creations are accidentally set free in a small town.
Ridley Scott’s space adventure The Martian was bumped into second place, taking $21.5 million.
The Matt Damon film has now taken $143.8 million in its third week of release.
Steven Spielberg’s cold-war thriller Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks, opened at No 3 with $15.4 million.
Guillermo del Toro’s gothic horror romance Crimson Peak did not fare as well in the Halloween period, debuting at four with $12.8 million.
This weekend also saw the release of Cary Fukunaga’s drama Beasts of No Nation, about child soldiers in Africa.
After making headlines earlier this year when Netflix bought the distribution rights for $12 million, the movie was simultaneously released in theaters and on the streaming platform.
Beasts of No Nation, starring Idris Elba, only made $50,699 across the 31 theaters it was shown at, averaging $1,635 per location.
It is understood the movie was given a limited theatrical release to qualify it for the upcoming awards season.
In a limited release, abduction drama Room also earned a respectable $120,000 from four screens.
North American box office Top 5:
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