Keanu hangs on to top spot

Reeves in The Watcher: The movie took the lowest takings for a number one this year

Keanu Reeves' new movie The Watcher topped the US box office chart for a second week - but the real star of the weekend was Almost Famous from director Cameron Crowe.

Reeves' psychological thriller, which also features James Spader, maintained its lead but with only modest takings of $5.7m (£4m) - the lowest weekend takings for a number one movie this year.

However, Almost Famous - which was only on limited release - came in at number eight in the charts with takings of $2.3m (£1.6m).

It was being screened in just 131 cinemas across the US and Canada, giving it an average of $17,557 (£12,500) per site.

Spader plays Reeves' victim

By contrast, The Watcher played in 2,745 cinemas and averaged only $2,077(£1,400) per venue.

The Watcher, from Universal Pictures, sees Speed star Reeves playing a serial killer.

Spader plays a police officer who, traumatised by his failure to catch the murderer, moves away to begin a new life. But he soon discovers Reeves' character is in hot pursuit.

Award hopeful

Jerry Maguire director Crowe's new movie is a based loosely on his exploits as a teenage music journalist for Rolling Stone magazine during the 1970s.

It has been produced by DreamWorks, the same company that brought multiple Oscar-winner American Beauty to light.

Almost Famous is gathering momentum

But the comparisons with American Beauty don't stop there. Apart from Frances McDormand and Billy Crudup, Almost Famous boasts a cast of young, talented unknowns.

Like American Beauty too, Almost Famous premiered at the Toronto Film Festival - and became the talking point of this year's event.

Now, DreamWorks is rolling out Crowe's movie slowly, as it did with American Beauty.

This way, it hopes to fuel excitement among movie-goers and critics by generating a steady stream of rave reviews and word of mouth enthusiasm.

Another of this weekend's new movies Bait came in at number two with $5.5m.

Bait star Foxx discovers a new life as a police informant

The action movie stars Jamie Foxx as a prisoner released from jail in order to help police track down another criminal.

Rounding off the top five was cheerleader comedy Bring It On, which held steady at number three with $5.1m (£3.5m).

Nurse Betty starring Renee Zellweger slipped two places to number four with $4.7m (£3.3m)

Last of the five was the DreamWorks thriller What Lies Beneath with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, which took $2.5m (£1.7m).