Spy Kids stay on top

Spy Kids keeps a hold on the charts for a second week

Spy Kids, starring Antonio Banderas, has held on to the number one spot in the US movie charts after taking $17.8m (£12.3m) at cinema box offices.

The family espionage caper follows a brother and sister who get caught up in the adventures of their secret agent parents, played by Banderas and Carla Gugino.

The film also received its UK première in London on Sunday, ahead of its British release on 13 April. Banderas attended the screening accompanied by his wife, Melanie Griffith.

North American top five

1. Spy Kids

2. Along Came A Spider

3. Blow

4. Pokemon 3: The Movie

5. Someone Like You

In the US, the top 10 movies included three new releases from last Friday.

Crime thriller Along Came A Spider, starring Morgan Freeman, came in at number two after taking $17.1m (£11.8m).

It is the second film based on the popular crime novels from James Patterson. The first, Kiss the Girls, also starred Freeman, as psychological profiler Alex Cross and made a total of $60m (£41.4m).

Johnny Depp's latest outing, cocaine saga Blow, came in at number three after taking $12.5m (£8.6m) at the box office.

Johnny Depp in Blow was second

The third new offering, Pokemon 3: The Movie - another children's film for the Easter holidays - followed in fourth after making $9.2m (£6.3m).

Last week's number two, Ashley Judd's romantic comedy Someone Like You, dropped into fifth position with takings of $5.5m (£3.8m) in its second week.

Between them, Spy Kids and Pokemon 3 accounted for nearly a third of the tickets sold for the top 12 movies in US over the weekend.

"It tells you that families and kids, they're big movie-goers.

"All you have got to do is put the movie in front of them, and if you do good marketing, they will come to see it," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of monitoring company Exhibitor Relations.

Outside the top five, Sigourney Weaver's Heartbreakers - a mother-daughter crime comedy - fell to number six with takings of $5.1m (£3.5m).

Pokemon 3: the second children's movie in top 10

War epic Enemy at the Gates was at number seven with $3.5m (£2.4m). The Brothers - a relationship comedy revolving around four young black men - was at number eight with $3m (£2m).

Rounding off the top 10 was Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at number nine. The movie has now made $117.7m (£80m).

Teen comedy Tomcats dropped six places to number 10 with takings of $2.9m (£2m), after opening at number four last weekend.