Moviegoers were almost equally in the mood for a good laugh and some Sylvester Stallone fighting, making their choice between “Meet the Spartans,” this weekend’s No. 1 at the North American box office, and “Rambo,” which took second place.

“Meet the Spartans,” a spoof film based on the 2006 epic “300,” earned $18.7 million at the North American box office this weekend, overrunning Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo” sequel by a narrow margin of just half a million dollars – the latter earned $18.2 million in ticket sales, according to Sunday estimates from Media by Numbers.

“Meet the Spartans,” directed by parody specialists Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer (“Epic Movie,” “Date Movie”), features an ensemble cast which includes Sean Maguire, Carmen Electra, Nicole Parker and Kevin Sorbo, among others.

Also released this weekend is Sylvester Stallone’s fourth portrayal of Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. The actor also took on writing and directing duties for this film, made ten years after the release of “Rambo III.”

Third on the box office chart was romantic comedy “27 Dresses,” starring Katharine Heigl as the perpetual bridesmaid, which took in $13.6 million. Last week’s No. 1, the J. J. Abrams monster film “Cloverfield,” fell to number four with $12.7 million.

Although Diane Lane’s performance as an FBI cybercrime investigator in crime thriller “Untraceable” received positive reviews, the film nevertheless opened at No. 5, with a modest $11. 2 million intake.

The movies that received Academy Award nominations last week saw a nice increase in ticket sales over the weekend, with Diablo Cody’s “Juno” placing sixth, with $10.3 million. This brings the film’s cumulative gross over the $100 million mark, Entertainment Weekly reports.

“There Will Be Blood” earned $4.9 million, while “Atonement” brought in $4 million; “No Country for Old Men” grossed another $2.5 million while George Clooney’s “Michael Clayton” earned $2.1 million more.

The weekend brought along a new record for the family film “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” which passed the $200 million mark. The box office overall is projected to be up 32% from the comparable weekend last year.