Expendables shoot to the top of the US box office
- Published
Stallone broke his neck while filming The Expendables
All-star action movie The Expendables has gone straight to the top of the US box office, taking $35m (£22.4m) in its opening weekend.
The film, which stars Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, held off competition from Julia Roberts' latest movie.
She stars in Eat, Love, Pray as a woman who travels the world following her divorce.
The film opened at number two on the chart, taking $23m (£14.7m).
Death duel
Sony is hoping Eat, Love, Pray will have a long stint on the chart because of its appeal to women, who are less likely than men to rush out to see a film as soon as it opens.
"This is the type of picture that really will hang in there. I would be very surprised if the picture doesn't play right into the fall," said Sony's head of distribution, Rory Bruer.
Last week's number one, Will Ferrell comedy The Other Guys, dropped into third place, according to early studio estimates.
Leonardo DiCaprio thriller Inception was fourth with $11.4m (£7.3m).
Another new entry took fifth place - Scott Pilgrim vs The World stars Michael Cera as a man who finds himself caught up in deathly duels with his new girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends.
Rounding out the top 10 were Despicable Me, Step Up 3D, Salt, Dinner for Schmucks and Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.