LOS ANGELES - "The Town," Ben Affleck's fast-paced bank heist flick set in his hometown of Boston debuted as the top movie at North American theaters this weekend, industry estimates showed on Sunday.

Supplanting "Resident Evil: Afterlife" in the top spot, "The Town," the second film to be directed by the actor, earned 23.8 million dollars (S$31.7 million) in ticket sales, according to projections from box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Second place went to another new film, teen comedy "Easy A" about a high school girl who lies about losing her virginity to improve her social standing, which earned 18.2 million dollars.

M. Night Shyamalan's "Devil" supernatural thriller about Satan trapping victims in a Philadelphia high-rise came in third, raking 12.6 million dollars in tickets sales.

"Resident Evil," the latest in a long-running science fiction series, fell from the top spot last week to fourth with 10.1 million dollars.

"Alpha and Omega," about a wolfpack in the wilds of a Canadian nature reserve, opened in fifth place with 9.2 million dollars in tickets sold.

In sixth place was "Takers," the bank-robbery thriller starring Hayden Christensen, Idris Elba and singers Chris Brown and T.I. which earned three million dollars.

George Clooney's spy flick "The American" was seventh with earnings of 2.76 million dollars.

Rounding out the top ten were "Inception" in eighth place with a shade over two million dollars in ticket sales; crime comedy "The Other Guys" with two million dollars, and romance flick "Eat, Pray, Love" which claimed 1.7 million dollars to finish in 10th place.