英语文摘:"The Expendables" holds ground at top of box office into 2nd weekend

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Sylvester Stallone action- war film "The Expendables" remained the most-popular movie in North America for the second straight weekend, as five films opened this week to so-so results at the mid-summer box office.

The Lionsgate film which was co-written and directed by Stallone who also acted with Jason Statham and Jet Li, will sell an estimated 16.5 million U.S. dollars in ticket stubs this weekend, for a two-week running total gate of 64.9 million dollars, North America box office authority said based on projected statistics over the weekend.

"Vampires Suck," a comedy about contemporary teen angst and romance movies from Fox, was in second place with a 12.2 million dollars weekend and 18.6 million dollars in sales since its opening on Wednesday night in movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

"Eat Pray Love," a Sony Pictures romantic drama featuring Julia Roberts was third, garnering 12 million dollars in ticket sales this weekend and has sold 47.1 million dollars in two weeks.

Rounding off the 10 most-popular movies in the U.S. and Canada are:

-- No.4, "Lottery Ticket," Warner Bros., debuting with 11.1 million dollars this weekend;

-- No.5, "The Other Guys," Sony/Columbia, 10.1 million dollars this weekend, and 88.2 million dollars over three weeks;

-- No.6, "Piranha 3-D," Weinstein Co., which preliminary figures showed to have debuted with 9.5 million dollars this weekend;

-- No.7, "Nanny McPhee Returns," Universal, debuting with 8.3 million dollars this weekend;

-- No.8, "The Switch," Miramax, premiering with 8.1 million dollars this weekend;

-- No.9, "Inception," Warner Bros., 7.7 million dollars this weekend, and 261.8 million dollars over six weeks;

-- No.10, "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," Universal, 5 million dollars this weekend, and 20.7 million dollars over two weeks.