LOS ANGELES, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Warner Bros.' thriller film "Joker" moved back into the No.1 spot at the North American box office with 18.9 million U.S. dollars in its fourth weekend.

The film has grossed 277.58 million dollars through Sunday in North America for a global cume of 849.1 million dollars, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.

It is already the all-time biggest R-rated film worldwide, surpassing Fox's R-rated superhero film "Deadpool 2," which made 785 million dollars worldwide in 2018.

Based on DC Comics characters, "Joker" is directed by Todd Phillips and stars Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role. The film follows the devolution of Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill failed stand-up comedian who turns into the killer-clown Joker.

"Joker" has been a subject of significant controversy in the United States since it premiered at the Venice and Toronto film festivals earlier this year.

Critics have raised concerns that the film could encourage copycat attacks in the country. But Warner Bros. explained in a statement before the opening of the film that "neither the fictional character Joker, nor the film, is an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind. It is not the intention of the film."

The film is considered an Oscar frontrunner in the coming awards season.

Disney's "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" came in second in a close race with "Joker," collecting 18.53 million dollars in its second weekend for a North American total of 65.41 million dollars.

The fantasy adventure film with a reported 185-million-dollar production cost is a sequel to the 2014's "Maleficent" inspired by Charles Perrault's original fairy tale and Walt Disney's animated film "Sleeping Beauty."

Directed by Joachim Ronning with Angelina Jolie returning to portray the title role, the film picks up several years after "Maleficent," in which audiences learned of the events that hardened the heart of Disney's most notorious villain and drove her to curse a baby Princess Aurora.

United Artists Releasing's animated family-friendly comedy "The Addams Family" landed in the third place with 11.7 million dollars in its third weekend for a North American total of 72.8 million dollars. The film, directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan, is based on the comics of the same name by Charles Addams.

Sony's zombie comedy film "Zombieland: Double Tap" came in fourth with 11.6 million dollars in its second weekend, pushing its North American cume to 47 million dollars. Directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone, the film is a sequel to 2009's "Zombieland."

A newcomer, STX Entertainment's supernatural horror film "Countdown" opened in the fifth place with 9.01 million dollars. Directed and written by Justin Dec, the film follows a group of young people who must survive an app that claims to predict exactly when a person is going to die.