DreamWorksAnimation's Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit stole the show at the domestic box office over theweekend as it opened top on an estimated $16m.

SteveBox and Nick Park's animated romp - the latest from the Aardman Animationsstable - mesmerized the critics; its per screen average was $4,417 on 3,645screens.

Touchstone'sFlightplan fell to second placein its third weekend on $10.8m for $60.9m, one place ahead of Fox's women'smovie In Her Shoes, a comedystarring Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz and Shirley MacLaine that opened on $10m.

CurtisHanson's picture drew very good reviews and averaged $3,570 on 2,808 screens.

Openingin fourth place on a below par $8.4m was the sports gambling drama Two ForThe Money, starring Al Pacino andMatthew McConaughey. DJ Caruso's picture failed to impress the critics andaveraged a so-so $3,504 on 2,391.

Sony'sfaith-based drama The Gospel openedin fifth on $8m for a $8,255 average on 969 screens. A contemporary AfricanAmerican story, the film stars Omar Gooding as a young soul singer who returns hometo visit his ailing father - a church pastor - and begins to question his ownvalues.

Theonly other new entry in the top ten was Lions Gate's Waiting, a comedy about the life of waiters and waitresses starringRyan Reynolds, which grossed $5.7m for a $3,450 average on 1,652 screens.

Itwas a quiet Columbus Day weekend overall, as the top 12 titles combined for$87.8m, down 10% against the same period last year.

TimBurton's Corpse Bride fell threeplaces to sixth on $6.5m for $42.1m after four weekends, while Universal'ssci-fi adventure Serenityplummeted seven places to ninth, bringing its ten day total to $17.6m.

NewLine's A History Of Violence rankseighth on $16.7m after three weeks and rounding out the top 10 is MGM/Sony's IntoThe Blue on $13.9m after twoweekends.

Nextweekend's wide releases include New Line's action picture Domino starring Keira Knightley and Mickey Rourke;Paramount's romantic comedy Elizabethtown starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst; and Sony's horror remake TheFog, which stars Tom Welling andMaggie Grace.

EstimatedTop Ten US Oct 7-9 2005

Film(Distributor)/International distribution/Estimated weekend gross/Estimatedtotal to date

1(-) Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (DreamWorks Animation) UIP $16.1m -

2(1) Flightplan (Buena Vista) BVI$10.8m $60.9m

3(-) In Her Shoes (Fox) Fox Int'l $10m-

4(-) Two For The Money (Universal/MorganCreek) UIP/Morgan Creek International $8.4m -

5(-) The Gospel (Screen Gems) SPRI$8m -

6(3) Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (WarnerBros) WBPI $6.5m $42.1m

7(-) Waiting (Lions Gate) LGFI$5.7m -

8(4) A History Of Violence (NewLine) NLI $5.1m $16.7m

9(2) Serenity (Universal) UIP$4.9m $17.6m

10 (5) Into The Blue (MGM/Columbia/Mandalay) Fox Int'l/various SPRI $4.8m$13.9m