LOS ANGELES ? The children's animated food-fest "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" topped the North American box office for the second weekend running, according to preliminary industry figures Sunday.
The book-inspired film tells the tale of an island rained on by junk food and took $24.6 million in its second week at cinemas, bringing its total to just over $60 million, said box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
The film's animated heroes kept the top spot by fending off the invincible avatars of Hollywood action man Bruce Willis, whose latest movie "Surrogates" netted $15 million on its debut weekend.
Also in its first showing, "Fame," a rethinking of the 1980 Oscar-winning flick of the same name, took in just over $10 million for the number three spot.
The movie, panned by critics as a lightweight reinvention, follows a group of actors, singers and dancers through the trials of a New York City arts-oriented high school.
Hollywood favorite Matt Damon, whose latest flick "The Informant!" came in second in its first week, slipped to number four in the box office to take $6.9 million.
Damon plays an agribusiness whistleblower in the film, which was directed by Steven Soderbergh.
In fifth place was "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself," directed, written and acted by Tyler Perry, who reprises his millions-earning "Madea" character, a rotund African-American matriarch.
The pistol-packing grandma fell in its third week to net $4.8 million, and $44.5 million in total for its three weeks in cinemas.
Space-themed horror sci-fi flick "Pandorum" debuted in the sixth spot this weekend, netting $4.4 million.
The movie, starring Dennis Quaid, tells the story of two crew members stranded on a spacecraft after waking from a deep sleep, only to realize they are not alone on their vessel.
Beleaguered romance "Love Happens," starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart, slipped from fourth to seventh in its second week, with a disappointing $4.3 million in ticket sales.
At the eighth spot, "Jennifer's Body" stars film siren Megan Fox as a possessed and killing-obsessed cheerleader, a combination that was enough to earn $3.5 million in its second weekend, and $12.3 million in total.
Just behind was post-apocalyptic animated feature "9," which fell to ninth in its third week.
The Tim Burton-produced film tracks the adventures of an improbable gang of burlap-clad rag dolls who square off against machines in an attempt to save the world, or what is left of it. It earned $2.8 million.
Slipping to the number 10 spot was Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic "Inglourious Basterds," about a group of Nazi-hunting Jewish commandos rampaging through occupied France.
It features Brad Pitt and, in a much-lauded performance, Austrian actor Christoph Waltz who plays a maniacal Nazi officer. The film took $2.7 million in its sixth week, for a total of $114 million.
