Cruise plays a crazed hitman in the film, directed by Michael Mann

The thriller, directed by Heat's Michael Mann, made $24.4m (�13.5m) in its first three days of release.

The film sees Cruise play against type, as a crazed hitman who hijacks a taxi for a night-time killing spree.

The film knocked M Night Shyamalan's horror thriller The Village from the top spot, where it debuted last week.

The Village took $16.6m (�9.22m) over the weekend, pushing it's 10-day total to $85.7m (�47.6m).

US BOX OFFICE 1 Collateral 2 The Village 3 The Bourne Supremacy 4 The Manchurian Candidate 5 Little Black Book Source: Exhibitor Relations

The only other high-profile film released this week, the romantic comedy Little Black Book starring Brittany Murphy, had a disappointing debut, reaching fifth place with ticket sales of only $7m (�3.88m).

The box-office was down sharply compared to the same week last year. The top 12 films made $97.7m (�54.2m), 23% down compared to the same week in August 2003.

"This is why they call it the dog days of August," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office analysts Exhibitor Relations.

Will Smith's thriller I, Robot has taken the top spot outside the US

"Summers always surprise you. They either slow down at the end or they peak at the end," he said.

Collateral opened with positive reviews and attracted a predominantly over-25 audience.

Meanwhile, the Will Smith futuristic thriller I, Robot, which opened in the UK on Friday, led the foreign box-office over the weekend with tickets sales of $31m (�17.2m) in 29 countries outside of North America.

In the UK, it took more than �4.6 million, also attaining number one at the box office in Germany, Brazil, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway.