LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" took the top spot at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, becoming the third comic-book property to lead the field this summer.

Meanwhile, Eddie Murphy bombed with his latest comedy, "Meet Dave," which opened at No. 7 with estimated ticket sales of just $5.3 million during its first three days.

"Hellboy II," on the other hand, earned $35.9 million, said distributor Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co. It handily surpassed industry expectations, as well as the $23.2 million start for its 2004 predecessor, "Hellboy."


Last weekend's champ, Columbia Pictures' Will Smith superhero comedy "Hancock," slipped to No. 2 with $33 million, taking its 12-day total to $165 million.

Also new was the 3-D adventure "Journey to the Center of the Earth," starring Brendan Fraser, which opened at No. 3 with $20.6 million, also exceeding expectations. The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

"Hellboy II," which cost about $85 million to make, once again stars Ron Perlman in the title role as a cigar-chomping demon who fights evil. Both films were directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who in the interim enjoyed huge success with his 2006 fantasy thriller "Pan's Labyrinth."

The first film went on to make about $60 million domestically -- evidently not enough to dissuade its distributor, Columbia, from letting the franchise move to Universal. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp.

By comic-book superhero standards, the "Hellboy II" opening was relatively modest. "Iron Man" kicked off with $98.6 million in May, while "The Incredible Hulk" bowed with $55.4 million last month. Its reign will also be brief, as the highly anticipated Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" opens on Friday.

"Meet Dave," released by News Corp's 20th Century Fox, reportedly cost almost $60 million to make. It ranks as Murphy's biggest flop since "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," which opened to $2.2 million in 2002.

Murphy plays two roles: the tiny commander of an alien space ship as well as the spacecraft itself. One role he avoided was publicity for the movie: He did not show up for the world premiere last week.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman, editing by David Wiessler)

© Copyright 2008 Reuters.

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