娱乐英语新闻:"The Butler" extends No. 1 ranking into 2nd weekend

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Popular U.S. talk show hostess and businesswoman Oprah Winfrey has proven she is a real draw as her latest film "Lee Daniels' The Butler" ruled the North America box office for the second straight week.

The emotional civil rights epic starring Winfrey and Forest Whitaker is on track to take in 17 million U.S. dollars worth of tickets revenue in the second weekend of release, distributor The Weinstein Company said. The drama, based on the real life story of a black White House butler who served eight presidents, is projected to gross 52.27 million dollars during 10 days of business.

"We Are the Millers," a screwball comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis, also held up well this weekend, taking in an estimated receipt of 13.5 million dollars to finish at the second place. The Warner Bros. release is expected to rake in 91.7 million dollars through 19-day screenings.

This week's third and fourth slots were occupied by a pair of new releases. "Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones," a Sony/Screen Gem adaptation of "The Mortal Instruments" fantasy book series, debuted and ranked the third, with an estimated tickets revenue of 9.3 million dollars from three days' screenings. The film, debuting Wednesday, is on pace for a tickets revenue of 14 million dollars by Sunday.

"The World's End," the latest Edgar Wright directed comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, will garner 8.9 million dollars in receipt to finish the fourth. The R-rated comedy was released by Focus Features.

Rounding out the 10 most popular films in North America this weekend, as estimated by studios, were "Planes" (8.5 million U.S. dollars), "Elysium" (7.1 million), "You're Next" (debuting at 7 million), "Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters" (5.2 million), "Blue Jasmine" (4.3 million) and "Kick-Ass 2" (4.3 million).