Audiences preferred violence to sex over the weekend, relegating Paul Verhoeven’s “Showgirls” to the No. 2 spot behind the Brad Pitt-Morgan Freeman thriller “Seven.”

“Seven,” which involves Pitt and Freeman chasing a serial killer obsessed with the so-called seven deadly sins, pulled in $13.9 million, according to figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations Co.

But while “Showgirls,” an erotic, Joe Eszterhas-written fantasy about a young woman dancing in Las Vegas, made just $8.1 million, it did so while playing at just 1,388 locations.

“Seven,” in contrast, played at 2,441 locations - which means that “Showgirls,” the first NC-17 film ever to win such wide release, enjoyed a higher per-location average ($5,845 to $5,715).

In its seventh week, the inner-city study “Dangerous Minds” continues to do well. Its weekend take of $2.8 million earned the film a No. 4 ranking, just behind “To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar” ($4.5 million).

And as “Angus” (No. 12, $1.31 million, two-week total of $3.5 million) silently disappears, and “The Last of the Dogmen” (No. 15, $756,000, three-week total of $5.9 million) slips toward the video market, Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13” also appears near the end of its run, though its performance has been a bit better (No. 14, $829,000, 13-week total of $166.6 million).

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo