Marvel Studios’ 2014 poster boy stayed top of the North American charts in its in third weekend in action, adding an estimated $26.6m to reach $201.5m.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier overtook the $177m final tally of its 2011 predecessor in 15 days.

TriStar’s Heaven Is For Real scored an impressive $21.5m three-day number three debut, while Fox’s Rio 2 stayed put at number two on $22.5m, Transcendence opened poorly at number four on $11.2m and A Haunted House delivered a lacklustre number five debut on $9.1m.

TriStar’s Heaven Is For Real became the latest faith-based film to score a hit, benefiting from Easter Weekend to arrive in third place on $21.5m, rising to $28.5m over five days.

Approximately 62% of the audience was female and 49% aged under 35 on the film, which received a grassroots marketing campaign among mainstream and faith-based audiences. Sony sources said the budget came in at $12m.

Greg Kinnear and Kelly Reilly star in the story of a real-life couple whose son who claims to have visited Heaven following a near-death experience. Randall Wallace directed from the book by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent. Joe Roth and TD Jakes produced.

Fox’s Rio 2 stayed put at number two on $22.5m for $75.4m in its second weekend.

Transcendence, the AI thriller starring Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall that marks the feature directorial debut of Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer Wally Pfister, opened at number four on $11.3m. The film generated approximately $3m from 500 global Imax screens.

Meanwhile Open Road delivered a disappointing $9.1m number five launch for spoof sequel A Haunted House that did not compare favourably to the original’s $18m number two January 2013 debut.

Paramount and Regency Enterprises’ Noah will cross $100m within the week. The film fell four spots to number nine in its fourth session and stands at $93.3m and $290.7m worldwide. God’s Not Dead continued its excellent run over Easter Weekend, adding $4.8m for $48.3m after five weekends.

Disneynature’s Bears arrived through Buena Vista at number 11 on $4.8m from 1,720 sites.

Millennium Entertainment opened Fading Gigolo, John Turturro’s comedy starring Woody Allen, on $198,000 from five sites for a superb $39,600 average. QED International handles sales outside the US.

Overall box office for the top 12 fell 5.3% against last weekend and climbed 3.5% against the same session in 2013.

This week’s wide releases are District B13 remake  Brick Mansions starring the late Paul Walker through Relativity; Fox comedy The Other Woman with Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton and Lionsgate’s horror film The Quiet Ones starring Jared Harris, Sam Clafin and Olivia Cooke.

Estimated Top 10 North America Apr 18-20 2014
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (1) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Marvel Studios-Buena Vista) WDSMPI $26.6m $201.5m

2 (2) Rio 2 (Fox) Fox International $22.5m $75.4m

3 (-) Heaven Is For Real (TriStar) SPRI $21.5m $28.5m

4 (-) Transcendence (Warner Bros) Lionsgate International $11.2m –

5 (-) A Haunted House 2 (Open Road) IM Global $9.1m –

6 (4) Draft Day (Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $5.9m $19.5m

7 (6) Divergent (Summit-Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $5.8m $133.9m

8 (3) Oculus (Relativity) Sierra/Affinity $5.2m $21.2m

9 (5) Noah (Paramount) Paramount Pictures International $5m $93.3m

10 (7) God’s Not Dead (Freestyle Releasing) $4.8m $48.3m