LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A-list action romp The Expendables 2 held onto the top rung of the North American box office for a second weekend, keeping The Bourne Legacy at bay, industry estimates showed yesterday.

The Expendables 2, which stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jet Li as mercenaries, raked in US$13.5 million a week after its debut, according to movie tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The Bourne Legacy — starring Jeremy Renner as a secret agent threatened by his employers in the latest installment of the popular series that had starred Matt Damon as Jason Bourne — took in US$9.3 million for second place.

Coming in third, also for a second week in a row, was ParaNorman, an animated movie about a boy who can speak with the dead. It earned $8.5 million in ticket sales.

Political spoof The Campaign, starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, remained in fourth place, with box office receipts of $7.4 million.

The Dark Knight Rises, the latest Batman film, climbed back up to fifth place, earning $7.2 million. The final installment in the trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan has so far raked in more than $420 million.

Quirky fantasy-comedy The Odd Life of Timothy Green climbed to sixth place a week after its debut, bringing in $7.1 million.

Premium Rush, an action film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike messenger being pursued by a corrupt cop, debuted in seventh at $6.3 million.

2016: Obama's America, a documentary by conservative writer and commentator Dinesh D'Souza, shot to eighth place from a distant 13th last week, bringing in $6.2 million.

Rounding out the top ten were Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones's romantic comedy Hope Springs, with $9.1 million in ticket sales, and action chase film "Hit and Run," which made $4.7 million in its opening weekend.