Rambo beaten by Spartans

Sly Stallone’s Rambo reload didn’t embarrass itself at the US box-office this weekend – it arrived in second with $18.2 million, just $500,000 off the top spot. While the bloody ultra-violence of John Rambo’s latest adventure probably put a lot of people off, it’s still a more successful start than Rocky Balboa.

But Americans, eh? Rambo was beaten fair and square by the mighty, conquering and horribly predictable Meet The Spartans, which obviously offered up what teen audiences were after over the last three days. The spoof made $18.7 million in its launch weekend.

Meanwhile, last week’s two big movies both took tumbles, though 27 Dresses clung on a lot more successfully than Cloverfield. The Katherine Heigl romantic comedy dropped just 41%, earning $13.6 million in its second weekend for third place. JJ Abrams’ monster-mash, meanwhile, lost more than 68% of business, slipping into fourth with $12.7 million.

In fifth we find the week’s third new movie, Untraceable. The ‘net killer thriller made $11.2 million in its first weekend, putting it just above Juno, which slipped two places to sixth place, scoring $10.3 million and breaching the $100 million mark. Seventh was Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman's The Bucket List, which made $10.2 million and has taken $57.6 million to date.

At the bottom of the charts is Oscar favourite There Will Be Blood, which made $4.8 million. Then National Treasure: Book Of Secrets, which added $4.66 million to its $205.1 million total. And finally, Mad Money, which still doesn’t seem to be making a lot of cash, slipped down to 10th with $4.61 million.