Bin Laden film "Zero Dark Thirty" leads box office

US-BOXOFFICE1:Bin Laden film "Zero Dark Thirty" leads box office

(Reuters) - "Zero Dark Thirty," Hollywood's re-telling of the decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden, captured the No. 1 spot on movie box office charts over the weekend with $24 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales.

The movie starring Jessica Chastain as a dogged CIA agent edged out horror movie spoof "A Haunted House," which finished with $18.8 million as well as "Gangster Squad," a period crime drama that finished in third place with $16.7 million from Friday through Sunday.

The weekend marked a strong start for Hollywood in 2013 after 2012's record-setting box office numbers.

Sony Corp's movie studio released "Zero Dark Thirty." "Gangster Squad" was distributed by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc. "A Haunted House" was released by Open Road Films, a joint venture between theater owners Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Inc.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Paul Simao)

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