 Wahlberg plays a 30-year-old bartender turned pro footballer |
US football movie Invincible, based on the true story of an ageing rookie who becomes a professional star, has topped the North American box office. The movie, which stars Mark Wahlberg as a bartender who wins a place with NFL side the Philadelphia Eagles, took $17m (�8.9m) over the weekend.
Its success kept Will Ferrell's motor racing comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in second place.
Snakes On A Plane, which topped last week's chart, slid down to seventh.
Classic horror
Offbeat comedy Little Miss Sunshine moved up again to three. The film, which has no major stars, was released a month ago but only broke into the Top 10 last weekend.
The second highest new entry in the US and Canada was Beerfest at number four.
Idlewild, starring Andre Benjamin and 'Big Boi' of R&B group Outkast, entered the chart at nine.
This Friday sees the release of The Wicker Man, a US remake of the British horror classic starring Nicolas Cage.
Like Snakes on a Plane, the film is being released on both sides of the Atlantic without being screened for the press.
The global success of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel Dead Man's Chest has pushed the Disney Studio's earnings outside the US past the $1bn mark, according to the Hollywood Reporter. To date the Johnny Depp has taken $963.6m (�507.6m), more than half of which has come from territories outside North America.
With the movie yet to open in Italy, the adventure sequel's combined takings this year are on course to top the $1bn barrier itself.
20th Century Fox was the first studio to pass the $1bn mark overseas, thanks primarily to the success of Ice Age: The Meltdown.
Sony Pictures, home of The Da Vinci Code, passed the symbolic industry barrier last week.
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