Scooby-Doo is top dog

Matthew Lillard plays Shaggy in Scooby-Doo

Live action caper Scooby-Doo has walked out on top of the North American box office - beating off a clutch of big budget movies.

The classic Hanna Barbera cartoon has been transformed for the big screen with actors playing alongside a computer generated dog.

In its opening weekend the film, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr, scooped $56.7m (£38.4m) across the US and Canada, according to early estimates.

Its total gives the movie the accolade of being the biggest June opener ever, beating the three-year record set by Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

US and Canada top five

1. Scooby-Doo

2. The Bourne Identity

3. Windtalkers

4. The Sum of All Fears

5. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Spy thriller The Bourne Identity, starring Matt Damon, enters the chart at number two taking $27.5m (£18.6m).

Battlefield

John Woo's graphic war movie Windtalkers follows behind, taking a disappointing £14.5m (£9.8m) in its first week.

The movie, which sees Nicholas Cage return to the battlefield after Captain Correlli's Mandolin, cost a reported $120m (£81m) to make.

Jack Ryan thriller The Sum of All Fears, with Ben Affleck as the CIA hero, slips from the top spot to number four.

It has raked in $84.5m (£57.2m) since it was released three weeks ago.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood falls from number two to five - taking $9.8m (£6.6m) over the three-day period.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man continue to jostle for chart position.

Star Wars took $9.2m (£6.2m) this weekend, taking its total takings to $270.4m (£183m) and placing it at number six in the chart.

Director Sam Raimi's Spider-Man is one step behind but with total box office receipts of $389.4m (£263.5m).