LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Lionsgate's political thriller, Angel Has Fallen, did not quite soar but managed to stay atop the North American box office on this United States holiday weekend, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday (Sep 1).

The action-packed film took in an estimated US$11.6 million (S$16 million) for the first three days of Labour Day weekend and US$14.5 million for the four-day period. That came at the end of a summer that saw movie revenue dip by 2 per cent from last year, the Comscore website said.

Angel, the third film in the franchise, stars Gerard Butler as a Secret Service agent wrongly accused of trying to kill the US president (Morgan Freeman).

A relatively sedate movie weekend saw little change in the top five films. In second for a second straight week was Universal's raunchy tween comedy Good Boys, which took in US$9.2 million for three days (US$11.6 million for four).

In third, up one spot from the previous weekend, was Disney's updated version of The Lion King, which pulled in US$6.7 million (US$9.2 million) in its seventh week out.

Universal's action film, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, also rose a spot from the previous weekend, taking fourth place at US$6.3 million (US$8.1 million).

And slipping from third to fifth, at US$5.7 million (US$7.9 million), was Sony's Overcomer, a Christian-themed movie about a former basketball coach who agrees to train an asthmatic orphan girl for a huge cross-country meet.

Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were Ready Or Not (US$5.6 million; US$6.7 million), Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (US$5 million; US$6.2 million), Spider-Man: Far From Home (US$4.3 million; US$5.4 million), Dora And The Lost City Of Gold (US$4.1 million; US$5.7 million) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (US$4.1 million; US$5.4 million).