'Superbad' rules box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Bawdy teen comedy "Superbad" proved to be super good at North American movie box offices, holding onto the No. 1 slot for the second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"Superbad" grossed $18 million, pushing its 10-day total to $68.6 million and making it one of the top comedies of the summer.

"The response to 'Superbad' has been no less than incredible," said Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Pictures, the film's distributor. The movie, which cost about $20 million to make, follows the antics of two high school friends on their quest for girls and booze.

Action-thriller "The Bourne Ultimatum" climbed one place and grabbed the No. 2 slot with an estimated weekend gross of $12.4 million in its fourth week of release. The Universal Pictures release, the latest installment in the Jason Bourne espionage series, has grossed a total of $185.1 million.

"Rush Hour 3," starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker as two hapless cops, came in third with $12.3 million for New Line Cinema.

Late August is a slow period for new releases and none of the movies opening this weekend were expected to be hits. Two new movies - Universal's "Mr. Bean's Holiday" and Lions Gate's "War," - rounded out the top five with grosses of $10.1 and $10 million, respectively.

"Mr. Bean's Holiday," a film that follows the misadventures of oddball British character Mr. Bean in France, already has been an international hit with $189.3 million, excluding U.S. and Canadian sales, according to Media by Numbers, a Web site that tracks box office figures.

Sony Pictures is a unit of Japanese electronics maker, Sony Corp. Universal Pictures is part of the NBC Universal media wing of General Electric (Charts, Fortune 500). New Line Cinema is part of Time Warner (Charts, Fortune 500), and Lions Gate (Charts) is a public company.