The third installment in the popular George Clooney – Brad Pitt crime-adventure series had a winning opening weekend in North America, raking in $37.1 million at the box office.

The ensemble cast includes old-timers (by now) George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Shaobo Qin and Elliott Gould. They are joined by Al Pacino, Eddie Izzard and Ellen Barkin.

Its world premiere on May 24 at the Cannes Film Festival was followed by a June 8 release in North America. Moviegoers were eager to see “Ocean’s Thirteen” over the weekend, as its ticket sales surpassed those of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” and “Shrek the Third.”

The movie’s director is Stephen Soderbergh, who also directed the previous “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001) and “Ocean’s Twelve” (2004). Likewise, the producer has remained the same Jerry Weintraub.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,” the No. 1 movie the previous two weekends, sank to second place with $21.3 million, while third place went to romantic comedy “Knocked Up,” with $20 million.

Two other releases this weekend were “Surf's Up,” an animated adventure about surfing penguins featuring the voices of Shia LaBeouf and Jeff Bridges, which debuted in fourth place with $18 million, and horror sequel “Hostel: Part II,” which debuted in sixth place with a modest $8.75 million.

The Los Angeles premiere of “Ocean Thirteen” on June 5 coincided with a memorable event for the movie’s cast: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and producer Jerry Weintraub added their marks to Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

George Clooney, humorous as ever, said: “If I had to be on my hands and knees with three other guys, I can't think of three better guys to do it with, and I mean that in the best possible way.”