Rosamund Pike is among the stars of the movie Doom

Doom debuted with $15.4m (�8.7m), with horror remake The Fog dropping from the top slot to fourth.

Racing drama Dreamer was second with Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in third place.

Outside North America, the Wallace and Gromit movie topped the international box office chart, taking an estimated $15.7m (�8.8m) at the weekend.

The US box office figures showed Hollywood's slump continuing, as the top 12 films took $71.3m (�40.3m) down 27 per cent on the same weekend last year.

The studio behind Doom, Universal, had hoped for a bigger opening weekend, admitted Nikki Rocco, head of distribution.

US AND CANADA BOX OFFICE 1. Doom - $15.4m 2. Dreamer - $9.3m 3. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - $8.7m 4. The Fog - $7.3m 5. North Country - $6.5m Figures are for Fri-Sun. Source: Exhibitor Relations

"I'm very concerned about the marketplace," Ms Rocco said.

"There are so many movies out, so much to choose from, yet the marketplace continues to fall, and not just by little amounts."

Starring wrestler The Rock, Doom sees a group of soldiers battle evil beings after being sent to investigate what went wrong on a space station.

Surprise hit

A year ago, the US box office shot up on the surprise strong debut of horror movie The Grudge, which opened with $39.1m (�22.1m).

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."

Dreamer, which stars Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning, took $9.3m (�5.2m) in its first week.