Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman star in supernatural comedy Bewitched

The comic book blockbuster took $26.8m (�14.6m) over the weekend, taking its 12-day US total to $121.7m (�66.6m).

Bewitched opened in second place with takings of $20.2m (�11m).

However, revenues for the top 12 movies were down 16% on the same weekend last year in the longest ever slump - 18 weeks - in modern box office history.

In 1985, box office takings fell for 17 straight weekends, in what had been the longest slump since analysts began keeping detailed figures.

TOP FIVE US FILMS 1. Batman Begins 2. Bewitched 3. Mr and Mrs Smith 4. Herbie: Fully Loaded (above) 5. Land of the Dead Source: Exhibitor Relations

If the current slump continues, Hollywood is on course for a third straight year of declining admissions and its lowest ticket sales since the mid-1990s.

"We're working with a pretty huge deficit that would take a lot of business to overcome," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"Just breaking the slump is not enough. We would have to reverse the trend and see attendance on a big uptick."

Elsewhere in the chart, Herbie: Fully Loaded, starring teen idol Lindsay Lohan, entered the chart at four.

The Disney sequel has taken $17.8m (�9.7m) since opening in US cinemas on Wednesday.

Another sequel, George A Romero's zombie thriller Land of the Dead, entered the chart at five with weekend takings of $10.2m (�5.5m).

Tom Cruise is expected to top next week's chart with War of the Worlds, which opens in the US this Wednesday.