Monsters, Inc., the Walt Disney/Pixar animation, continued athwart the North American box office, with audiences lifting it past the $100m mark after nine days on release, a record cash-dash for an animated film. After two weekends, its estimated take stands at $122m. Perhaps its haste is quickened by the sound of the heavy foot-tread of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, which opens next weekend and is expected to vaporise all competition.

One heavy foot-tread that failed to scare Monsters away from the path of box office domination was Fox's Shallow Hal, the Jack Black vehicle featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as a 21-stone inner beauty. Nonetheless the film was the top new-comer with a respectable $23.3m. Columbia's Jet Li-starrer The One was off 50% from last weekend but the studio reports the film opened at No. 1 this weekend in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

The next best performance from a new entry was David Mamet's Heist, at $8m, the first wide-release for the writer/director and hence his best-ever opening. Certainly, the film features his highest-profile cast, fronted by Gene Hackman and an engaging supporting turn from Danny De Vito. The film was backed by Franchise Pictures, which is paying Warner Bros. a fee to distribute.

Life As A House, from New Line, jumped up the charts to eighth position after opening wide this weekend while Miramax's Amelie, which opened on three screens last week, spread to 48 screens in 40 markets. The film scored a per-screen average in excess of $20,000 and is skewing to a younger-than-average audience for foreign-language fare, auguring a healthy run into the holiday season. The film goes to 250 screens next weekend.

ESTIMATED TOP TEN NORTH AMERICA NOVEMBER 9-11, 2001

Film (Distributor)/International distribution/Estimated weekend gross

1 (1) Monsters, Inc. (Walt Disney) BVI $46.2m

2 (+) Shallow Hal (20th Century Fox) Fox Int'l $23.3m

3 (2) The One (Columbia) Columbia TriStar Int'l $9.1m

4 (3) Domestic Disturbance (Paramount) UIP $8.5m

5 (+) Heist (Warner Bros.) Warner Int'l $8.0m

6 (4) K-Pax (Universal) Intermedia $6.2m

7 (5) 13 Ghosts (Warner Bros.) Warner Int'l $4.2m

8(20) Life As A House (New Line) New Line Int'l $3.7m

9 (6) Riding in Cars with Boys (Columbia) Columbia TriStar Int'l $2.1m

10 (8) Training Day (Warner Bros.) Warner/Village Roadshow $1.9m