The Hollywood box-office saw some brawny action this weekend, as the ensemble film 'The Expendables 2,' starring a collection of throwback muscle men, took the top spot among several new films jostling for attention at theaters.

The movie earned $28.8 million in its openingweekend in North America, displacing 'The Bourne Legacy' from the top spot. 'The Expendables 2,' distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., LGF -0.69% features many of the action stars who dominated screens a decade or two ago, including Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, and Arnold Schwarzenegger in his first major role since exiting office as governor of California in January 2011.

While the film took the No. 1 spot, its openingweekend failed to beat that of the first 'Expendables,' which earned $34.8 million in its domesticopeningweekend when it hit theaters in 2010. That film and its stars proved extremely popular with overseas audiences, with 'The Expendables' going on to collect $274.5 million world-wide, and the studio behind the franchise is banking on the same foreign appetite for the second film in the series.

Overseas, the studio is distributing the film only in the U.K. and Australia, and put up just $35 million in production financing, which is comparable to the approach it took with the first 'Expendables.' Prior to 'The Hunger Games,' that film was the most profitable in the studio's history. Other foreign rights for 'The Expendables 2,' a $90 million film, were presold by the production company, Millennium Films.

And studio executives pointed out that 'The Expendables 2' will meet little in the way of competition in coming weeks.

David Spitz, Lionsgate's executive vice president of theatrical distribution, said the company believes 'we will have a very solid run in theaters.' He added: 'We are always happy to say we are the No. 1 film in the marketplace.'

'The Bourne Legacy,' another action movie, was bumped to second place, earning $17 million in its second week in theaters. It is fourth film in the 'Bourne' franchise, from Comcast Corp.'s CMCSA -0.35% Universal Pictures. The movie's cumulative domestic gross now stands at $69.6 million.

But beyond the action space, there were audiences to be found for films such as the quirky animated movie 'ParaNorman,' the political comedy 'The Campaign' and Whitney Houston's posthumous film, 'Sparkle.'

'ParaNorman,' which took the third spot, found its audience with the not-yet-back-to-school crowd, taking in $14 million in its first weekend in theaters. The movie, about an outcast boy who can communicate with the dead, from Comcast's Focus Features, includes the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick and Casey Affleck. While the box-office results for summer animated films typically increase only about 10% from Friday to Saturday, 'ParaNorman' ended up with better-than-expected results because of its 18% bump between the two days, according to the studio.