LOS ANGELES Political Thriller ***"The Sum of All Fears"*** beat off competition from two new films to keep its top spot at the North American box office last weekend, figures showed Monday.

The picture, starring Hollywood heartthrob Ben Affleck and veteran actor Morgan Freeman, grossed 19.2 million dollar in ticket receipts in its second weekend, according to box office trackers exhibitor relations inc, AFP reported.

The film depicts a nuclear attack on Baltimore, Maryland, and was filmed before the September 11 attacks on U.S. targets.

Feminine comedy ***"Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood"*** opened very strongly in second place with 16.2 million dollars to good reviews for its cast including Maggie Smith, Ellen Burstyn, Sandra Bullock and Ashley Judd.

The picture fended off blockbuster ***"Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones"***-- now in its fourth week -- which took 14 million dollars, boosting its total takings to a whopping 255.1 million.

In fourth place at the North American box office was another debut film, spy comedy ***"Bad Company"*** starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock, which got off to a disappointing opening with just 11 million dollars.

In final place on the top five listings for North America was the monster comic book blockbuster ***"Spider-Man,"*** which took 10.3 million in its sixth week on screens boosting its total to a huge 370.4 million dollars.

Rounding out the top 10 were ***"Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" (9.3 million), ***"Undercover Brother"*** (7.3 million), ***"Insomnia"*** (6.1 million), ***"Enough"*** (3.8 million) and ***"About a Boy"*** (2.7 million).