( news.bbc.co.uk ) - Ocean's 13, the third of the casino-based dramas starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, has proved the most popular film in North America. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and also featuring Al Pacino, its weekend takings were $37.1m (?18.9m).
It beat Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - the number one for the past two weeks - into second place. The comedy Knocked Up fell to third, while Surf's Up, an animated adventure about penguins, was new in fourth. This featured the voices of Jeff Bridges and Shia LaBeouf and finished one position ahead of another animation, Shrek the Third, which was in its fourth week in cinemas.
The only other large-scale release of the weekend, Hostel: Part II, opened at number six. Ocean's 13 and its predecessors were inspired by the 1960 "Rat Pack" adventure Ocean's 11, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. "For a third instalment, and there's been a lot of them this year, that tells you it's still a solid franchise," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking firm Media by Numbers, told Reuters.