Scooby takes US box office lead

Scooby and colleagues have returned for a sequel

The second Scooby-Doo movie has gone to the top of the North American box office charts with takings of more than $30m (£16m) in its opening weekend.

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, based on the hit cartoon series, took less than its predecessor, which made $54m (£29m) in summer 2002.

The film stars Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar as crime-fighting friends of cowardly dog Scooby-Doo.

Tom Hanks comedy The Ladykillers opened in second place with $13m (£7m).

Dawn of the Dead has slipped from the top spot

The movie - a remake of the 1955 British heist comedy starring Alec Guinness - set a new opening record for writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen.

Their previous best had been Intolerable Cruelty which opened to $12.5m (£6.8m) last year.

Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ slipped a place to three with $12.5m.

With takings of $315m (£171m) after five weeks, it is on course to outpace The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which has earned about $375m (£204m).

Last weekend's number one, the zombie horror remake Dawn of the Dead, fell to fourth with $10.4m (£5.6m), taking its 10-day total to $43.9m (£24m).

Ben Affleck rebounded from the infamous failure of Gigli to open at five with the romance Jersey Girl in which he plays a widowed publicist with a young daughter.