Disney’s animated romp Wreck-It Ralph rang up a phenomenal weekend at North American box offices, taking in €38.3 million – almost double income on the number two film.

The premiere of Disney’s film, which sees a video game villain try to become a hero, almost doubled the business of another hot premiere, Denzel Washington’s Flight, about a troubled pilot.

It brought in €19.5 million, weekend estimates from industry expert Exhibitor Relations said.

In third place was Argo, based on a true story about six Americans spirited out of Iran during the 1979-80 hostage crisis; the film directed by and starring Ben Affleck brought in €7.9 million.

Another new film premiered in the number four spot: The Man with the Iron Fists. The action film starring Russell Crowe, in feudal China, brought in €6.4 million.

Action film Taken 2 – Liam Neeson’s return as ex-CIA agent Bryan Mills – came in fifth with earnings of €4.6 million.

And the number six spot went to the genre-busting, time-travelling Cloud Atlas, in which Tom Hanks and Halle Berry each play six different roles set across a 500-year span, taking in €4.1 million in ticket sales.

Hotel Transylvania, about an overprotective vampire dad intent on guarding his adolescent daughter against a budding romance with a human boy, was number seven with €3.5 million.

Paranormal Activity 4, the fourth instalment in the found-footage franchise, raked in €3.3 million and placed eighth.

Here Comes the Boom, a comedy starring Kevin James as a high school teacher intent on becoming a mixed martial arts fighter to raise money for his school, was in ninth place with €2.8 million.

The 10th spot went to the latest in the franchise of Silent Hill horror movies, Silent Hill: Revelation, which earned €2.5 million in ticket sales the weekend after Halloween.