Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's film adaptation of Miller'sgraphic novels Sin Cityopened top of the North American charts at the weekend, grossing an estimated$28.1m for Dimension Films.

The ultra-violent film noir tale opened to enthusiastic reviewsand averaged $8,706 on 3,230 screens. The strong ensemble cast includes BruceWillis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood and MickeyRourke.

If figures hold, SinCity will be the thirdbiggest April opening of all time behind Sony/Revolution's Anger Management in 2003 on $42.2m, and Universal's TheScorpion King in 2002 on$36.1m.

MGM's comedy Beauty Shop opened to mixed reviews in second place on $13.5m ($17.3msince opening on Mar 30) for a $5,077 average on 2,659 screens.

Queen Latifah reprises her role from Barbershop 2 as a no-nonsense beauty shop owner whosebusiness accommodates an uncomfortable melange of uptown and downtown clients.

Twentieth Century Fox's animated family picture Robots stayed fourth and passed $100m in itsfourth weekend as it added $10m for $104.6m, while Buena Vista's family title ThePacifier is fastapproaching the same mark after adding $6.1m for $96.4m in its fifth weekend.It fell one place to sixth.

Columbia's comedy Guess Who fell from top spot to third in its second weekend andraised its running total by $13m to a healthy $41.3m. Warner Bros' comedysequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed And Fabulous has failed to ignite the box office andfell three to fifth in its second weekend on $8.4m for $31.4m.

DreamWorks' horror sequel The Ring Two fell four places to seventh on $5.8m for$68.3m in its third weekend, while New Line's Sundance premiere The UpsideOf Anger, a criticallyadmired family saga starring Joan Allen and Kevin Costner, climbed three to eighthin its fourth weekend on $4.1m for $8.7m.

Next weekend's wide releases are: Twentieth Century Fox's romanticcomedy remake Fever Pitch starring Drew Barrymore and former Saturday Night Live comic Jimmy Fallon; and Paramount'sexpensive adventure yarn Sahara, which stars Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz and Steve Zahn.

Estimated Top Ten US Apr 1-3 2005

Film (Distributor)/International distribution/Estimated weekendgross/Estimated total to date

1 (-) Sin City (Dimension) Miramax Intl $28.1m -

2 (-) Beauty Shop (MGM) Fox International $13.5m $17.3m

3 (1) Guess Who (Columbia) SPRI/Regency $13m $41.3m

4(4) Robots (Fox) FoxInternational $10m $104.6m

5 (2) Miss Congeniality 2: Armed And Fabulous (Warner Bros) Warner Bros Int'l $8.4m$31.4m

6 (5) The Pacifier (Buena Vista) BVI/Spyglass $6.1m $96.4m

7(3) The Ring Two (DreamWorks) UIP$5.8m $68.2m

8 (11) The Upside Of Anger (New Line) Media 8 Entertainment $4.1m $8.7m

9(6) Hitch (Sony) SPRI $3m $171.4m

10 (8) IcePrincess (Buena Vista)BVI $2.6m $18.6m