Ben Stiller's family hit Night At The Museum is still making an exhibition of itself at the top of the US box office after taking over cinemas during the lucrative Christmas and New Year period.

The film, in which Stiller plays a night security guard at a museum that comes alive, scored a healthy $24 million in its third weekend on release, taking its impressive overall tally to $164 million.

Will Smith's The Pursuit Of Happyness remained in second place with a $13 million weekend take, while Clive Owen and Julianne Moore's Children Of Men jumped up to third place with a second-week take of $10.2 million.

Hilary Swank's new role in real-life teacher story Freedom Writers gave the film the week's highest debut at four, while critically-bashed animated movie Happily N'ever After entered the new box office chart at six.