Comedy "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" kept its top position for the second consecutive weekend at the North American box office, final figures showed Monday.
The film starring Kevin James as a mall security guard who fights off a criminal gang earned 21.6 million dollars to keep its number one position, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Vampire horror flick "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" opened in second place with 20.8 million dollars.
In third place was Clint Eastwood as a foul-mouthed Korean War veteran in "Gran Torino," which raked in 16.2 million dollars to bring its overall earnings to 97.8 million dollars over seven weeks.
Eastwood's character befriends his Asian neighbors as they are terrorized by gangs.
The family-friendly "Hotel for Dogs," where children run a fanciful facility for stray dogs, took in 12.9 million dollars for fourth place.
Mumbai-set "Slumdog Millionaire" saw a boost from its whopping 10 Oscar nominations to jump back up to fifth place from 10th by earning 10.7 million dollars.
Blood-soaked "My Bloody Valentine 3D" took in 10.1 million dollars and debut "Inkheart," in which fictional characters come to life from book pages, drew 7.6 million dollars in ticket sales for sixth and seventh place, respectively.
Chick flick comedy "Bride Wars" pulled in 6.9 million dollars for eighth place.
Oscar heavyweight "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which secured a near-record 13 nominations -- including best actor for Brad Pitt -- earned another 6.1 million dollars to bring its total to more than 111 million dollars over five weeks.
Rounding out the top 10 was bio-film "Notorious" about the life and 1997 murder of rap star Christopher Wallace, known as "Notorious B.I.G." or "Biggie Smalls," with earnings of 5.8 million dollars.
Copyright 2009  AFP Global Edition
