Warner Bros' police drama Training Day conquered the box office with ease over the weekend, ending studio fears that audiences wouldn't respond to a story about a crooked cop and validating the move of the film from its original Sept 21 release date. The film grossed a powerful estimated $24.2m over the three day period making it the second highest October opening ever after last year's Meet The Parents.

Denzel Washington plays the corrupt LA cop in the critically acclaimed film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival this year. It's also the biggest opening ever for a Washington film after last year's Remember The Titans which took $20.9m in its first weekend and went on to become a $100m grosser.

Miramax also scored a hit with the second highest opener Serendipity which grossed $14m. The New York-set romantic comedy stars John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale and was directed by Peter Chelsom.

Other openers fared less well although the weekend was up 14% from the same on last year, when Meet The Parents opened to a record-breaking $28.6m. 20th Century Fox's teen thriller Joy Ride directed by John Dahl received the best reviews of any movie this week and took $7.4m for the number five slot; Buena Vista's G-rated family comedy Max Keeble's Big Move scored with neither critics nor audiences, taking just $5.5m for number six.

Last weekend's openers Don't Say A Word and Zoolander continued to play well, both taking around $10m, while Dimension's The Others inched closer to the $100m mark with a $3m gross in its ninth weekend to bring its total to $90.7m.

Depending on how the nation responds to Sunday's attacks on Afghanistan, the box office continues to look up with the wide opening next weekend of MGM's action comedy Bandits starring Bruce Willis and Buena Vista's Chris Kattan comedy vehicle Corky Romano.

ESTIMATED TOP TEN US OCT 5-7
Film (Distributor)/International distribution/Estimated weekend gross/Estimated total to date
1 (-) Training Day (Warner Bros) Warner Bros/Village Roadshow $24.2m --
2 (-) Serendipity (Miramax) Miramax International $14m --
3 (1) Don't Say A Word (20th Century Fox) New Regency/Fox International $10m $32.2m
4 (2) Zoolander (Paramount) UIP $9.9m $28.7m
5 (-) Joy Ride (20th Century Fox) New Regency/Fox International $7.4m --
6 (-) Max Keeble's Big Move (Buena Vista) BVI $5.5m --
7 (3) Hearts In Atlantis (Warner Bros) Warner Bros $5.4m $16.8m
8 (4) Hardball (Paramount) Fireworks Pictures $3.7m $30.8m
9 (5) The Others (Dimension) StudioCanal $3m $90.7m
10 (6) Rush Hour 2 (New Line) New Line International $1.8m $221.6m