Wall Street sequel top of US box office

Michael Douglas, left, returns as banking bad boy Gordon Gekko

Wall Street sequel Money Never Sleeps, starring Michael Douglas, is the number one film in North America.

Oliver Stone's movie took $19m (£12m) in its opening weekend, according to early estimates.

Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said the figure was disappointing but high finance was "not exactly a topic that sets the box office on fire".

Animated adventure Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole opened at number two with $16.3m (£10.3m).

Money Never Sleeps sees the return of banking bad boy Gordon Gekko, played by Douglas, who spawned a catchphrase with the line "greed is good".

Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan and Josh Brolin co-star in the sequel which is set amidst the financial crisis of 2008.

Mr Dergarabedian, analyst for box officer tracker Hollywood.com, added: "I think expectations were pretty high for this movie.

"That's not only an iconic character of Gordon Gekko but it's also an iconic movie."

The $19m haul represents the biggest opening weekend of Stone's career - although final, confirmed figures may put it just below the $18.7 (£11.8m) taken by World Trade Center in 2006.

Wall Street 2 also gave Michael Douglas his biggest opening weekend in a lead role, and his second-biggest overall. His career best is You Me And Dupree, which took $21m (£13.2m) in its first three days.

Ben Affleck's Heist drama The Town, co-starring British actress Rebecca Hall, dropped two places to number three, taking $16m (£10.1m).

Teen comedy Easy A also fell two places, to number four, while Disney comedy You Again - starring Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver - opened at number five with $8.3m (£5.2m).