Horror a dead cert for success

The Forgotten, starring four time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore, has shot straight to the top of the US box office chart, taking $22 million in its ope

17:10 27 September 2004

The Forgotten, starring four time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore, has shot straight to the top of the US box office chart, taking $22 million in its opening weekend.

The film is the latest hit in a year-long love affair with the horror genre - with The Village, Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil: Apocalypse; and Exorcist: The Beginning all topping the US chart in recent months.

The Forgotten tells the story of a mother (Moore) who is told that a son she claims was lost in a plane crash never in fact existed, but was rather an eerily real collection of false memories and deluded loneliness.

The British horror brigade was also in on the action this week, with rom-zom-com Shaun of the Dead, starring the key acting ingredients of Channel Four hit comedy Spaced, came in at seventh - but with the second highest per-screen average of any film.

Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow's sci-fi, CGI adventure Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow slipped from the top spot to second place with sales of $6.7 million this weekend, while Resident Evil: Apocalypse kept up the strong showing for things that go bump in the night with a fourth position.

Box Office Top Five:

1. The Forgotten
2. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
3. Mr 3000
4. First Daughter/Resident Evil: Apocalypse
5. Cellular