'The Dark Knight Rises' rules N. America box office for 2nd weekend

"The Dark Knight Rises" managed to hold on to the top slot on the North America box office this weekend, reaping an estimated 64 million U.S. dollars in estimated ticket sales from 4,404 locations in the United States and Canada, according to the latest statistics released by Warner Bros. on Sunday.

The epic, which is the latest installment on director Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise, is poised to sell a total of 289 million U.S. dollars in movie tickets during 10 days in screening. The film's second-weekend box office receipt went down 60 percent from its opening weekend, a worse performance than "The Dark Knight," the last film of the series which hit the screen in 2008. That film saw only a 53 percent fall-off for its sophomore frame.

"Ice Age: Continental Drift," a Twentieth Century Fox's family- friendly animated 3-D film held its second-place slot into another weekend, banking 13.3 million U.S. dollars. Its three-weekend total is close to 115 million U.S. dollars.

"The Watch," also a Twentieth Century Fox R-rated comedy banking on the star power of a trio of superstars including Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, debuted in third place with an unimpressive 13 million U.S. dollar take.

Rounding out the top five most popular films in North America box office this weekend are Liongate's "Step Up Revolution" (20.6 million U.S. dollars) and "Ted (2012)", a Universal's comedy (7.3 million U.S. dollars).