Quote:By Andy Fixmer and Dan Hart

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- ``Meet the Spartans,'' a spoof of ``300'' from News Corp.'s Fox, captured the top spot at U.S. and Canadian box offices with $18.7 million, ousting the horror film ``Cloverfield'' from first place.

The movie beat out new competitors from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Sony Corp. in its debut. Lions Gate's ``Rambo'' finished second with $18.2 million, box-office tracker Media By Numbers LLC said today in an e-mailed statement.

News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox's ``Meet the Spartans'' repeats a formula that succeeded with last January's ``Epic Movie,'' and February 2006's ``Date Movie,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the Encino, California-based Media By Numbers.

``Never underestimate the power of the teen audience,'' Dergarabedian said. His company estimates that ``Epic Movie'' debuted at No. 1 and took in $19.2 million on its first weekend. ``Date Movie'' debuted at second place with $21.8 million.

``Meet the Spartans'' is Fox's first No. 1 since ``The Simpsons Movie'' on July 29 with $71.9 million. In ``Meet the Spartans,'' Sean Maguire plays King Leonidas, who travels with his Spartans to face the Persians at the battle of Thermopylae. Carmen Electra portrays Leonidas' wife, Queen Margo.

`Cloverfield'

``Rambo,'' which came in second, stars Sylvester Stallone as war veteran John Rambo in a reprisal of his role in the 1982 film. Stallone leads a group of mercenaries into Burma to rescue Christian aid workers. Gitesh Pandya, BoxOfficeGuru.com editor, forecast the film to open with $18 million in sales.

News Corp.'s ``27 Dresses,'' starring Katherine Heigl as a woman whose sister is about to marry the man she secretly loves, fell to third place with $13.6 million. It was second last week.