Perry comedy tops US box office

The film also stars Perry's alter-ego Madea

Comedy I Can Do Bad All By Myself has topped the North American box office chart, giving filmmaker Tyler Perry his second number one movie of the year.

Starring Oscar nominee Taraji P Henson, the film follows a hard-drinking nightclub singer who is forced to care for her delinquent niece and nephews.

Early figures show the movie took $24m (£14.5m) in its opening weekend.

Perry also topped the box office in February with his previous film, Madea Goes to Jail.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself co-stars Perry as his alter-ego, Madea, as well as singers Mary J Blige and Gladys Knight.

Animated film 9, featuring the voices of Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Connelly as hand-stitched dolls, made its debut at number two, taking $10.9m (£6.6m) in its first three days.

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds slipped one place to three taking its total haul to $104.4m (£63.1m).

US BOX OFFICE TOP 10 1. Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself - $24.03m 2. 9 - $10.9m 3. Inglourious Basterds $6.5m 4. All About Steve - $5.8m 5. The Final Destination - $5.5m 6. Sorority Row $5.3m 7. Whiteout - $5.1m 8. District 9 - $3.6m 9. Julie & Julia - $3.3m 10. Gamer $3.15m Source: Hollywood.com

The film needs $4m (£2.4m) more to become the director's biggest film in North America - the title is currently held by Pulp Fiction, which earned $108m (£65.3m) in 1994.

Sandra Bullock comedy All About Steve also dropped two places to four in its second week of release.

And, after two weeks at number one, horror film The Final Destination fell to five, taking its total to $58.3 million.

The second weekend of September is traditionally one of the industry's slowest, as the summer blockbuster season draws to a close and children go back to school.

As a result, other new entries in the top 10 opened to weak starts.

Rumer Willis horror Sorority Row came in at six with $5.3m (£3.2m), while Kate Beckinsale thriller Whiteout followed in seventh place with $5.1m (£3.1m).

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