LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier held off a strong debut by Rio 2 at North America's box office, muscling out the wild menagerie to retain top spot, data showed Monday.

The latest big-screen blockbuster featuring the iconic Marvel superhero took in US$41.3 million (S$52 million) over the weekend, figures from box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said.

The performance kept it just ahead of another sequel, animated children's movie Rio 2, a follow-up to the 2011 hit about a family of blue macaw parrots.

The movie, which features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway in the lead roles, took in US$39.3 million during its debut.

In third spot in its first weekend out was horror film Oculus, about an antique mirror possessed with evil spirits. It garnered US$12 million.

Kevin Costner's latest big-screen appearance - sports drama Draft Day - made fourth place.

The film, which sees Costner playing an American football team's general manager on the day of the NFL draft, picked up US$9.8 million.

Sinking from second to fifth spot was biblical epic Noah, starring Russell Crowe, which earned US$7.6 million.

Divergent, the dystopian tale of a young woman in a futuristic society, based on the popular young adult novel by the same name, reeled in US$7.4 million for sixth place.

The religiously themed God's Not Dead, which tells the story of a college freshman who debates his atheist philosophy professor, dropped to seventh with US$5.5 million.

Wes Anderson's quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel, which took US$4.1 million, slipped two places to eighth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Muppets Most Wanted with US$2.3 million and animated children's film Mr. Peabody and Sherman, based on characters from the 1960s television cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle, with US$1.9 million.