By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Freddy vs. Jason," the clash of the horror titans, led the North American box office for the second consecutive weekend, while three new wide releases barely made a ripple and overall ticket sales plummeted in the dying days of summer.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "Freddy vs. Jason" sold $13.5 million in tickets for the three days beginning Aug. 22, a 63 percent slide in sales. Nonetheless, it becomes the first film to rule for two weekends in a row since "X2: X-Men United" in early May.

The film, whose 10-day total raced to $61.5 million, was released by New Line Cinema, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc . The $30 million film stars Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger as the bad guys from two horror franchises: respectively, Freddy Krueger of "Nightmare on Elm Street" and Jason Voorhees of "Friday the 13th."

The next four movies ranked unchanged from last weekend. The cop action-drama "S.W.A.T." earned $10.8 million, taking its 17-day total to $88.1 million. The film was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites) .

Actor-director Kevin Costner's latest Western, "Open Range," lassoed $9.4 million, as did the Jamie Lee Curtis comedy "Freaky Friday." But they were separated by about $30,000, according to Walt Disney Co ., which released both films. Their respective totals rose to $29.2 million after two weekends, and $74.5 million after three.

BOMBS AWEIGH!

With the lucrative summer box office winding down, the studios are starting to clear their closets and focus on their prestigious year-end contenders. The best of this weekend's new weaklings was "The Medallion," a Jackie Chan caper that opened at No. 5 with $8.2 million. The Hong Kong action hero plays a cop brought back from the dead by the titular adornment. It was released by Sony's Screen Gems unit.

Ashton Kutcher's relationship with actress Demi Moore did little to help his comedy "My Boss' Daughter," which opened at No. 10 with $5.0 million. The house-sitting misadventure was released by Dimension Films, the genre banner of Disney's Miramax Films.

At least it did better than "Marci X," a comedy starring "Friends" actress Lisa Kudrow as a Jewish American Princess who runs a rap label. It opened at No. 15 with $865,000. The film, budgeted in the low-$20 million range was written off last year, said a spokeswoman for its distributor, Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc .

The top 12 films grossed $86.2 million, the lowest tally in almost four months, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. Summer officially ends in Hollywood next weekend, when the only new wide entry will be the teen horror "Jeepers Creepers 2."

In the arthouse world, the brightest bow was "Thirteen," a dark tale of sexual and criminal peccadilloes by young teen girls. The acclaimed movie earned $112,213 from five theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. It will reach wide release by mid-September. It was released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc .

1. Freddy vs. Jason .......... $13,152,967

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $61,197,607

2. S.W.A.T. .......... $10,581,327

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $87,847,065

3. Open Range .......... $9,481,315

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $29,317,253

4. Freaky Friday .......... $9,304,643

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $74,431,693

5. The Medallion .......... $8,111,324

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $8,111,324

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl .......... $7,275,447

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $260,925,697

7. Seabiscuit .......... $6,170,290

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $92,936,230

8. Uptown Girls .......... $5,606,943

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $22,318,159

9. American Wedding .......... $5,464,405

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $90,515,725

10. My Boss's Daughter .......... $4,855,798

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $4,855,798

John L.: A very weak performance by the new movies this uhh week. Only Jackie Chan's Medallion had any type of impact as My Boss's Daughter and Marci X both tanked like McNamara. Chan has always had trouble getting American Audiences to see his non big budget films like Rush Hour and the Shanghai films. Ashton Kutcher has received a lot of odd press for dating Demi Moore, but that did not inspire people to rush out to see his movie since it's premise can be seen once a week on any given sitcom. Kutcher will have to leave That 70s Show and find a good script and premise to become a movie star. Plus there are too many esses in the title. Marci X bombed because it was a Bringing Down the House ripoff where the white people and the black people try to understand each other a bit better through comedic mishaps. Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans should stick with television where they have their greatest success. Movies are just not their thing. No movie reviews this week, but there will be one for Jeepers Creepers 2. Until then, bye for now.