Jackson drama tops US box office

Lakeview Terrace is directed by US playwright Neil LaBute

Samuel L Jackson's thriller Lakeview Terrace is the top film at the North American box office after a quiet weekend at US and Canadian cinemas.

The film, in which Jackson plays an LA cop who terrorises his white neighbour, took a modest $15.6m (�8.5m) in its first three days on release.

Other new titles in the top 10 include Kate Hudson comedy My Best Friend's Girl and animated feature Igor.

Ghost Town, with Ricky Gervais, took eighth place with a $5.2m (�2.8m) haul.

The supernatural comedy, which marks the British comic's first leading role in a Hollywood picture, casts him as a dentist who can see ghosts.

'Slowdown period'

Jackson, whose film opens in the UK on 5 December, last topped the US box office chart in February with sci-fi adventure Jumper.

NORTH AMERICA BOX OFFICE 1 Lakeview Terrace - $15.6m 2 Burn After Reading - $11.3m 3 My Best Friend's Girl - $8.3m 4 Igor - $8m 5 Righteous Kill - $7.7m Source: Media By Numbers

Lakeview Terrace ended Burn After Reading's brief reign as the top movie in the US and Canada, with the Coen brothers comedy slipping one place to two.

Overall ticket sales were down 4% on the same period last year, according to box office tracking firm Media by Numbers.

Its president, Paul Dergarabedian, said this time of the year was traditionally a "slowdown period" symptomatic of a "post-summer malaise".

"The bar has definitely been lowered in terms of what movies are making," he said.

The figures will be a disappointment for distributor Lionsgate, who had predicted My Best Friend's Girl would top this week's chart.

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