Hannibal keeps hold on chart

Hannibal: The film has grossed $200m (£137m) world-wide

Hannibal, the sequel to Silence of the Lambs, has held onto the top spot at the US box office for a third week.

The film pulled in $15.8m (£11m) in its third week and has now earned more than $200m (£137m) worldwide, more than double its production budget of $87m (£60m).

Brendan Fraser in the film "flop" Monkeybone

The top ten is virtually unchanged on last week with only one new entry, Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner's heist movie, 3,000 Miles to Graceland.

It earned a modest $7.1m (£5m) at the box office.

"It did fairly well in a fairly crowded marketplace," said Dan Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros, one of many film studios feeling the effect of Hannibal's runaway success.

Film flop

The box office has also claimed its first flop of the year.

The $70m (£48m) film Monkeybone, starring Brendan Fraser, entered the chart at number 11.

"The research had told us it was coming,'' Bruce Snyder, head of distribution at Twentieth Century Fox, said.

"Everybody's a little sad [at Fox],'' he added.

Director Ang Lee's Chinese-language film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon continues to perform well, holding on to the fifth spot, earning a further $6.3m (£4.3m).

The film has been boosted by Oscar nominations and its roll out to an increasing number of cinema screens.

Next week, the much-anticipated Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt movie, The Mexican, opens in the US and could well provide sterner competition.

Pitt plays a member of the mob who is sent on an errand to retrieve a priceless pistol. Roberts plays his long-suffering girlfriend who puts pressure on him to quit the mob.