(Left to right) Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) and best friend Adam Flayman (Matthew Broderick). - Contributed

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters):

Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie had plenty of sting left during its second weekend, replacing American Gangster as the No. 1 choice for North American moviegoers.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, the DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc production earned $26 million during the three days beginning Friday, swapping places with Universal Pictures' crime saga American Gangster, which slipped to No. 2 with $24.3 million.

The holiday comedy 'Fred Claus', which some industry pundits said could have a shot at No. 1, came in at No. 3 with a respectable $19.2 million. The Warner Bros. release stars Vince Vaughn as Santa's bitter older brother.

Tom Cruise's rare foray into low-budget drama, Lions for Lambs opened at No. 4 with $6.7 million, which was in line with modest industry expectations. Meryl Streep co-stars in the critically maligned political saga, as does Robert Redford, who also directed. It marks the first United Artists release since Cruise and production partner Paula Wagner took control of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s dormant art-house division a year ago.

The only other new release in the top 10 was the indie woman-in-distress thriller P2, which came in at No. 8 with $2.2 million. Rachel Nichols stars as a young executive pursued in an underground garage by a sadistic security guard.

Distributors

Bee Movie was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. Universal Pictures is a unit of General Electric Co and Warner Bros. Pictures is a unit of Time Warner Inc. P2 was released by Summit Entertainment, which is privately held. MGM is also privately held.

(Right to left) Vanessa (Rene Zellweger) argues for the sanctity of all life, even bees like Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), to her boyfriend wannabe Ken (Patrick Warburton) in a scene from Bee Movie. - Contributed

Top 10 films

Following are the top 10 films at the North American box office for the weekend beginning November 9, led by Bee Movie, according to estimates compiled on Sunday by Reuters.

Final data will be issued on Monday.

1 (2) Bee Movie - $26.0 million

2 (1) American Gangster - $24.3 million

3 () Fred Claus - $19.2 million

4 () Lions for Lambs - $6.7 million

5 (4) Dan in Real Life - $5.9 million

6 (3) Saw IV - $5.0 million

7 (5) The Game Plan - $2.4 million

8 () P2 - $2.2 million

9 (6) 30 Days of Night - $2.1 million

10 (7) Martian Child - $1.8 million

NOTE: Last weekend's rankings in parentheses,denotes new release.