The second "Fantastic Four" film adapted from Marvel's best-selling comic series slightly surpassed the 56.1 million-dollar opening of its predecessor two years ago, according to Los Angeles-based box office tracker Media By Numbers.

The new film, in which the quartet of astronauts-turned-superheroes reunites to rescue the world by taking down the Silver Surfer, features a special-effects-laden script and stars the chrome-plated surfer who looks like an Oscar statue with super skills.

Warner Bros' "Ocean's Thirteen," the third version of the rat-pack revival, was in second place this weekend with 19.1 million dollars in sales in its second week, while Universal's comedy "Knocked Up" was in third place, with 14.5 million dollars in weekend sales in its third weekend.

After four weeks in release, Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" slipped to the forth with 12 million dollars in sales this weekend, and Sony's animated film "Surf's Up" about surfing penguins was at No. 5 with 9.3 million dollars.

The 12 top-selling films over the weekend took in a total of 138.8 million dollars this weekend, down 4 percent from the same period last year as box office slipped for the third straight weekend in North America.

It put Hollywood's earlier expectation of a record summer season in doubt and studios executives now pin their hopes on potential blockbusters like "Transformers" and a new Harry Potter sequel in coming weeks.