Redbus Film Distribution made a splash at the UK box officethis weekend with Open Water.

The indie suspenser about a couple who find themselvesabandoned in the middle of shark-infested waters after their scuba-diving boatleaves without them opened top in the UK with a powerful $3.5m (£1.97m)including previews of $345,700.

Playing at 378 sites the film drowned the competition withan average of $9,385 (£5,212) per location.

The result is Redbus' best opening since last October's Cabin Fever, another indiehorror-suspenser that, like Open Water,garnered strong word-of-mouth from a screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Cabin Fever opened on $1.9m (£1.06m)from 277 and went on to take $5.2m (£2.9m) in the UK.

Despite Open Water'sdominance the holdovers held up well over the weekend with last week's majoropeners The Terminal and Hellboy slipping just 14% and 32%respectively from their opening weekend takes excluding previews.

Fox's Vince Vaughn/Ben Stiller comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story also held well in its third week,falling a mere 14% and taking third place in the chart. Dodgeball has now taken $12.1m (£6.7m) in 17 days.

UIP's Anchorman: TheLegend Of Ron Burgundy was not as strong. Starring Will Ferrell andChristina Applegate and featuring cameo turns from Stiller and Vaughn the filmunderwhelmed in fifth place with $1m (£555,864) taken from 291 sites.