Doom overtook the US box office this weekend as the eponymous computer game adaptation topped the charts wih a $15.4m (£8.7m) take, well below the corresponding figure for last year.
Doom, which stars former wrestler the Rock as one of a platoon of hardened marines sent to battle malevolent creatures at a remote scientific research station on Mars (as well as Rosamund Pike as an anthropologist on Mars), replaced horror remake The Fog at the top.
The latter dropped to fourth, with $7.3m (£4.1m), just behind Nick Park and Aardman Animations' Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which took $8.7m (£4.9m) in third.
The second biggest opening film was also the second largest overall. Dreamer, which stars Kurt Russell and the ubiquitous Dakota Fanning as a father and daughter who nurse an injured racehorse back to health, took a respectable $9.3m (£5.3m).
Hollywood was once again trying its best to look on the bright side following another poor week for sales, but the low overall take for the top movies, though not unexpected, was once again a cause for concern.
The top 12 films made $71.3m (£40m), down 27% from last year, when The Grudge was top with a $39m (£22m) debut.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations, said: "In all fairness, this was more of a typical late-October weekend, as opposed to a year ago, when The Grudge surprised everyone and made this weekend look pale by comparison."
Nikki Rocco, head of distribution of Universal, which produced Doom, was less spirited.
"I'm very concerned about the marketplace," she said. "There are so many movies out, so much to choose from, yet the marketplace continues to fall, and not just by little amounts."
Fifth position was taken by another new film, the Charlize Theron drama North Country. The fictionalised account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States, in which a female miner was at the centre of a case against her male colleagues, took $6.5m (£3.7m). It may do better next weekend when it expands to another 400-600 cinemas amid predictions of Oscar success.
The weekend's fourth major release, the psychological thriller Stay, which stars Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, took just $2.2m (£1.2m) - way down table at 13th.
