Universal's video gameadaptation Doom met with futileresistance as it smashed its way to the top of the charts on an estimated$15.4m in a weekend that saw ticket sales plunge for the fourth consecutive weekend.

Andrzej Bartkowiak directedthe high-octane story in which Karl Urban and The Rock lead a Marine unit on adeadly mission to contain a Martian research station overrun by mutants.

The picture played mostly to male teens and according to exit polls 69% ofviewers had played the bestselling video game. Doom averaged $5,053 on 3,044 screens and drew poor reviews.

DreamWorks' drama Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story opened to good reviews in second place on$9.3m for a $4,633 average on 2,007 screens.

Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning star as a father-daughter team who train aninjured horse to compete in the Breeders' Cup Classic. John Gatinsdirected.

Two other major launches opened lower down the charts in a lacklustreweekend that saw the top 12 titles combine for $71.3m, a fall of 27% againstthe same weekend in 2004 when The Grudge opened at number one on $39m.

Warner Bros' sexual harassment drama North Country, directed by Niki Caro and starring Charlize Theron in an Oscar-tipped performance as a female miner,opened in fifth place on $6.5m.

The drama received very strong write-ups and averaged $2,532 on 2,555 screens.Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacekand Sean Bean also star.

Twentieth Century Fox's psychological drama Stayflopped in 13th place on $2.2m. Marc Forster's latest outing stars Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling and centres on a psychologist's client whose alarmingpredictions come true.

DreamWorks Animation's Wallace& Gromit slipped one place to third on $8.7mfor $44m after three weekends, one place ahead of last weekend's champion The Fog. The Sony/Revolution releasefell three places and stands at $21.5m after two weekends.

Paramount's romance Elizabethtown fell three tosixth in its second weekend on $18.9m, Buena Vista'sthriller Flightplanranks seventh after five on $72.3m, Fox's comedy-drama In Her Shoes ranks eighth on $26.2m after three, and New Line's Domino fell out of the top 10 in itssecond weekend and ranks 11th on $8.7m.

In limited release Buena Vista's romantic comedy Shopgirl starring Claire Danesand Steve Martin (who wrote the novella on which AnandTucker's adaptation is based) grossed just under $30,000 from eight venues in Los Angeles, New York andToronto.

Next weekend's wide releases are: Lions Gate's horror sequel Saw II; Paramount's drama The Weather Man starring Nicolas Cageand Michael Caine; Sony's adventure sequel The Legend Of Zorro starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones; and Universal's comedy Prime which stars Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman.

Estimated Top Ten US Oct 21-23 2005

Film (Distributor)/Internationaldistribution/Estimated weekend gross/Estimated total to date

1 (-) Doom (Universal) UIP $15.4m -

2 (-) Dreamer: Inspired By A TrueStory (DreamWorks) Hyde Park Entertainment $9.3m -

3 (2) Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (DreamWorksAnimation) UIP $8.7m $44m

4 (1) The Fog (Sony/Revolution)SPRI $7.3m $21.5m

5 (-) North Country (Warner Bros)WBIP $6.5m -

6 (3) Elizabethtown (Paramount)UIP $5.7m $18.9m

7 (4) Flightplan(Buena Vista) BVI $4.7m $77.3m

8 (5) In Her Shoes (Fox) FoxInt'l $3.9m $26.2m

9 (8) A History Of Violence (NewLine) NLI $2.7m $26.3m

10 (7) Two For The Money(Universal/Morgan Creek) UIP/Morgan Creek International $2.4m $20.7m