The Accountant topples The Girl On The Train at US box office

Anna Kendrick and Ben Affleck star in The Accountant

Ben Affleck's latest film, The Accountant, has topped the US box office on its opening weekend.

The crime drama, which also stars Anna Kendrick and Oscar winner JK Simmons, took $24.7m (£20.3m), holding off competition from Kevin Hart: What Now?.

The US comedian's concert film took $11.98m (£9.83m).

The two new entries knocked last week's number one, The Girl On The Train, based on the novel of the same name by Paula Hawkins, down to number three.

The film, which stars Emily Blunt and Justin Theroux, took $11.97m (£9.82m) on its second weekend of release.

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and Deepwater Horizon rounded off the top five with $8.9m (£7.3m) and $6.4m (£5.2m), respectively.

The success of The Accountant - in which Affleck's character Christian Wolff uses his accountancy office as a front for his work for criminal organisations - is the continuation of a long partnership between the actor and Warner Bros.

Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros president of domestic distribution, said: "We're in the Ben Affleck business and we're proud of it.

"Audiences just love him. We've had a lot of movies with him and we have a lot of movies coming up with him."

Affleck's previous films with the company include 2014's Gone Girl, which took $37.5m (£30.7m) on its opening weekend, and Argo, which launched with $19.5m (£16m) in 2012 and went on to win the best picture Oscar.

His future projects with the studio include mob drama Live By Night, which opens at Christmas, as well as a number of films in the DC comics franchise.

He is currently in pre-production on The Batman, which he will star in, write and direct.

The UK premiere of The Accountant takes place in London on Monday.