Saw III has topped the North American box chart after taking an estimated $34.3m (£18m) in the weekend before Halloween, bumping period drama The Prestige down into third place.
The third instalment in the brutal horror series took more than its 2004 and 2005 predecessors did.
The Leonardo DiCaprio starring movie The Departed held onto the number two spot on the chart for the third week in a row.
New entry, the drama Running With Scissors entered the chart at number 10.
The Saw movies’ brutal storylines involving serial killer called Jigsaw, played by Tobin Bell, thinking up increasingly innovative and horrific methods of torture has proved a hit with cinemagoers.
