US box office chart

1. The Scorpion King 2. Changing Lanes 3. Murder by Numbers 4. The Rookie 5. Panic Room 6. Ice Age 7. The Sweetest Thing 8. High Crimes 9. Clockstoppers 10. National Lampoon's Van Wilder

Last weekend's top movie, Changing Lanes, slipped to second place with $11.1m (�7.7m), pushing its total to $32.8m (�22.7) in 10 days, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

The weekend's other new general release, Sandra Bullock's crime thriller Murder by Numbers, had an average debut of $9.5m (�6.6m), coming in third.

Hollywood continues to enjoy buoyant weekends, with the top 12 films taking in $93.1m (�64.3m), up 38% from the same weekend a year ago.

The industry is well ahead of the record box office pace of last year, when movies grossed $8.4bn (�5.8bn) domestically.

The Scorpion King followed the pattern of The Mummy in 1999 and The Mummy Returns last year, which had big spring openings.

Smaller budget

"Summer began on 19 April this year," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which released The Scorpion King.

Made on two-thirds of the budget of its predecessor, The Scorpion King took much less than both The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.

The Mummy opened with $43.4m (�30m), and The Mummy Returns - in which The Rock's Scorpion King character was first seen - opened with $68.1m (�47m).

"I think expectations were incredibly high for Scorpion King. A lot of people were talking it up as the opening shot of summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

With no major action films opening next weekend, The Scorpion King is again expected to do well before Spider-Man starts the main summer season.