Universal and Blumhouse's horror film Halloween dominated North American box office in its opening weekend with an estimated $77.5 million, scoring the second biggest horror opening weekend of all-time.

The film's massive three-day debut is only behind the $123.4-million debut of Warner Bros Pictures' supernatural horror film "It" in 2017, reports Xinhua news agency.

Halloween also scored the second biggest October opening weekend ever, only behind Sony's Venom released earlier this month.

Directed by David Gordon Green, Halloween is the 11th instalment in the Halloween film series and a direct sequel to the 1978 film of the same name.

Recommended Read: Pete Davidson is still in love with Ariana Grande and sees a future with her

"The Blumhouse formula strikes again in spectacular fashion as the venerable and iconic franchise brings back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode to battle the epitome of pure evil in the form of Michael Myers in this 2018 instant hit," wrote movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian at comScore in an email to Xinhua.

Halloween received a "B+" rating from moviegoers on CinemaScore and a 80 percent certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Costing just $10 million to produce, the film earned $14.3 million from 23 overseas markets for a global total of $91.8 million to date, according to studio figures collected by comScore.

Warner Bros.' romantic drama A Star Is Born remained in second place for the third weekend in a row with an estimated $19.3 million, pushing its North American total to $126.37 million to date.