From Hell -- Heaven sent for Hollywood

It was a gift from heaven for 20th Century Fox as their horror flick, From Hell, starring Johnny Depp as a cop in a quest for Jack the Ripper, grabbed the number one spot at the box-office with $ 11.3 million.

The film, which cost around $ 20 million, is expected to do good business with Halloween around the corner, which is more cause for celebration for Fox.

But the surprise of the weekend was the Drew Barrymore tearjerker, Riding In Cars With Boys. The reality based film, which features Barrymore as a single mother with aspirations of becoming a writer, grossed $ 10.8 million for second place. Executives at Columbia TriStar, however, had hoped the film would bring in around $ 14 million.

The Denzel Washington drama Training Day pulled in a strong $ 9.5 million for third place.

After nearly three weeks, Training Day has amassed a healthy $ 57.4 million and is well on its way to a final gross upwards of $ 75 million. The film declined just 40 per cent from the previous weekend.

MGM's Bandits with $ 8.4 million and DreamWorks' new release, The Last Castle, with $ 7.1 million had to settle for the fourth and fifth place respectively.

The Last Castle, the tale of a general who takes over a military prison from a tyrannical colonel, stars veteran Robert Redford and James Gandolfini (The Sopranos).

Though critics slammed the film for being implausible, they praised the lead performances and certain patriotic elements. It cost $ 60 million and DreamWorks executives hoped it would gross $ 10 million opening weekend.

Ashok Amritraj's latest production, Bandits, stars Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton. After nearly two weeks, it has pulled in just $ 25 million. But the comedy cost nearly $ 90 million, a third of which was financed by Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment.

Overall, the top 12 films grossed a mere $ 74.5 million, down four per cent from last weekend but up 3.7 per cent from the same weekend a year ago. But that difference can easily be attributed to increase in ticket prices.

New releases next weekend include the Snoop Doggy Dogg starrer Bones, the horror film Thirteen Ghosts starring Shannon Elizabeth, the romantic comedy On The Line and the Kevin Spacey drama K-PAX.