‘Expendables 2’ brawls to No. 1 with $28.8M

LOS ANGELES — Sylvester Stallone and his beefy buddies have muscled their way to the top of the weekend box office.

Stallone’s action hero roundup “The Expendables 2” debuted at No. 1 with $28.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. That’s down from the $34.8 million start for “The Expendables” two years ago.

The Lionsgate sequel elbowed out another action tale as Universal’s “The Bourne Legacy” fell to No. 2 in its second weekend with $17 million. That was a steep 55 percent drop from its $38.1 million opening weekend, though the its domestic total climbed to $69.6 million.

Three other wide releases opened to modest business. Focus Features’ animated comedy “ParaNorman, about a boy leading the fight against zombies that rise from the grave, was No. 3 with $14 million.

Sony’s music remake “Sparkle,” featuring “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks and Whitney Houston, was No. 5 with $12 million. The update of the 1976 movie centers on three sisters who form a singing group in the late 1960s.

Disney’s family fantasy “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” was No. 7 with $10.9 million. The movie stars Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton as a childless couple who become instant parents to a boy that magically appears in their lives.

The newcomers and holdovers combined to lift Hollywood’s overall business. Domestic revenues totaled $139 million, up 12 percent from the same weekend last year, when “The Help” led with $20 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

Business had been down the previous three weekends this summer, which has fallen short of the record-setting business many studio executives were predicting at the start of the season.

Since the first weekend of May, revenues total $3.9 billion, down 5 percent from last summer’s, when Hollywood

finished with an all-time high of $4.4 billion for the season, according to Hollywood.com.