Sylvester Stallone and his merry band of mercenaries in "The Expendables" led the North American box office for a second weekend Sunday, crushing five forgettable newcomers as the summer moviegoing season started winding down.

"The Expendables" earned about $16.5 million across the United States and Canada during the three days beginning Friday, taking the 10-day tally for the action thriller to $64.9 million, distributor Lionsgate said.

Stallone also directed and co-wrote the independently produced $85 million project, whose multinational lineup includes English tough guy Jason Statham, Sweden's Dolph Lundgren and Chinese martial-arts veteran Jet Li.

Best of the rookies was the "Twilight" spoof "Vampires Suck," which opened at No. 2 with $12.2 million. The movie could have claimed the crown if it had not opted for a two-day head start by opening on Wednesday to maximize sales before school resumes. Its early total stands at $18.6 million.

Also new were: the urban comedy "Lottery Ticket" at No. 4 with $11.1 million, "Piranha 3D" at No. 5 with $10.1 million (tied with "The Other Guys), the Emma Thompson family sequel "Nanny McPhee Returns" at No. 7 with $8.3 million, and the Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy "The Switch" at No. 8 with $8.1 million.

Lionsgate is a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment [LGF  6.41  ---  UNCH  (0) ]. "Vampires Suck" was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp [NWS  14.18  -0.12  (-0.84%) ]. "Lottery Ticket" was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner [TWX  30.31  -0.35  (-1.14%) ]. "Piranha 3D" was released by released by Dimension Films, a unit of the closely held Weinstein Co.

"Nanny McPhee Returns" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric's [GE  15.03  -0.22  (-1.44%) ] NBC Universal, the parent company of CNBC.com. "The Switch" was released by Walt Disney's [DIS  33.05  -0.14  (-0.42%) ] Miramax Films.