Miramax/Dimension Films' Scream 3 remained at the top of the US box office with a $16.4m gross over the three-day weekend at a phenomenal 3,467 theatres. That represents a steep drop of 58% from its first weekend opening, although Scream 2 suffered a similar drop-off in its second weekend and went on to gross over $100m. Scream 3's ten day total is $57m and it looks set to become the year's first $100m movie.

20th Century Fox's The Beach opened with $15m at 2,456 theatres, scoring a higher screen average than Scream 3 - even though the film had an R rating that stopped many young girl fans of its star Leonardo DiCaprio getting to see it. Fox said that exit polls showed that the audience for The Beach was 57% female and that 55% was aged 18-25. The movie is, of course, the first to topline DiCaprio since he assumed megastar status in Titanic.

Two family comedies opened better than expected. Paramount's critically lambasted family comedy Snow Day produced by its Nickelodeon Movies stable mate took $14.8m at 2,664 theatres. The movie cost under $15m and is set to be a major money-earner for the studio. Its screen average of some $5,500 bettered that of Walt Disney Pictures' animated The Tigger Movie which grossed $9.2m at 2,723 theatres for an average of about $3,400.

ESTIMATED TOP TEN US (FEB 11-13)

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

1 (1) Scream 3 (Miramax Films) Miramax International $16.4m ($57m)
2 (-) The Beach (20th Century Fox) 20th Century Fox $15m (--)
3 (-) Snow Day (Paramount) UIP $14.8m (--)
4 (-) The Tigger Movie (Buena Vista) BVI $9.2m (--)
5 (2) The Hurricane (Universal) Beacon Pictures/BVI ($42.4m)
6 (6) The Green Mile (Warner Bros) Universal $3.1m ($124.3m)
7 (4) Next Friday (New Line) New Line International $2.8m ($49.3m)
8 (3) Stuart Little (Columbia) Columbia TriStar $2.7m ($132.1m)
9 (7) Galaxy Quest (DreamWorks SKG) UIP $2.2m ($65.7m)
10 (5) Eye Of The Beholder (Destination) Behaviour Worldwide $2.1m ($15m)