Tropic film holds on to top spot

Action spoof Tropic Thunder has held off competition from a number of new films to stay top of the North American box office for a second weekend.

The comedy, starring Ben Stiller, tells the story of a group of actors who end up fighting in a real war. It took $16.1m (£8.7m) in its second weekend.

It beat campus comedy The House Bunny which opened with $15.1m (£8.2m).

Futuristic adventure movie Death Race, starring British actor Jason Statham, opened in third with $12.3m (£6.7m).

The film, about a brutal car race of the future, is a remake of 1975 film Death Race 2000.

Batman film The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger, took another $10.3m (£5.6m).

Last week, it overtook Star Wars as North America’s second highest-grossing film of all time and has now taken $489.2m (£265.1m).

The highest-grossing film was James Cameron’s 1997 epic, Titanic, which took $601m (£325.6m).

Animated adventure Star Wars: The Clone Wars, meanwhile, dropped from its opening week third place to number five taking $5.7m (£3.1m).

Other new releases included The Longshots, starring rapper Ice Cube as an American football coach, which opened at number eight with $4.3m (£2.3m).

Tropic Thunder’s strong second week showing took its overall takings to $65.7m (£35.6m) by the end of the weekend.