'Expendables 2' tops box office

All-star action romp "The Expendables 2" opened at the top of the North American box office, easily dethroning another sequel, "The Bourne Legacy," industry figures showed today.

"Expendables 2", which stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jet Li as mercenaries, raked in $28.6 million since its debut on Friday, according to movie tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"The Bourne Legacy" -- starring Jeremy Renner as a secret agent threatened by his employers in the latest installment of the popular series that had starred Matt Damon as Jason Bourne -- took in $17.1 million for second place.

That kept it ahead of another new release, "ParaNorman," an animated movie about a boy who can speak with the dead, which raked in $14.1 million in ticket sales.

Political spoof "The Campaign," starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, fell to fourth place, with box office receipts of $13.1 million.

"Sparkle" -- a Motown-style musical set in the 1960s, featuring the late Whitney Houston in her final film appearance -- opened in fifth place, with $11.6 million.

"The Dark Knight Rises," the latest Batman film, slipped to sixth place, earning $11 million. The final installment in the trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan has so far raked in a total of $410 million.

Quirky fantasy-comedy "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" debuted in seventh place at $10.8 million.

Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones's romantic comedy "Hope Springs," about a married couple trying to get back their spark, was in eighth place at $9.1 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were teen comedy "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days" ($3.8 million) and science-fiction action remake "Total Recall" ($3.5 million).

AFP