The Butler, the star-studded historical drama by director Lee Daniels, has topped the North American box office for a second week with $17 million in takings, reports BBC News.

Forest WhitakerForest Whitaker [L] and Cuba Gooding Jr [R] In 'The Butler

Officially titled Lee Daniels' The Butler owing to a legal battle, the movie stars Forest Whitaker as a long-serving member of the White House team. Despite early Oscars talk, the movie appeared to have taken a knock with several mediocre reviews, though it battled to a box-office win in its first week.

This past weekend, it edged out the Jennifer Aniston comedy We're The Millers, which took $13.5 million to take its total to $90 million.  The World's End, starring Simon Pegg, opened in fourth place with $8.9 million following an extensive promotional tour.

The biggest disappointment of the weekend was clearly Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which was dubbed the next Twilight though took just $9.3 million. Based on the young adult fantasy book series, Sony has already committed to a sequel - which doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

Lenny KravitzForest Whitaker Oprah Winfrey
Lenny Kravitz [L], Oprah Winfrey [center] and Forest Whitaker [R] In 'The Butler'

Rounding out the top five was Disney's Planes ($8.6 million) - a spin-off of Cars. 

Jurassic Park 3D dominated the global box-office chart with $30 million, which bodes well for the new fourth film next year. Second was Matt Damon's Elysium, while Monster's University and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.

The Butler's reign atop the box-office is likely to come to an end this weekend, with the release of the One Direction documentary This Is Us, and the Selena Gomez starring Getaway. 

Watch the trailer for The Butler: