Scarily good for Boogeyman

The new low-budget thriller Boogeyman, shot in New Zealand and starring Lucy Lawless, haunted the number one slot at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, a day when cinemas will be lucky to scare up much business in the face of competition from the Super Bowl.

Boogeyman earned an estimated US$19.5 million ($27.5 million) since opening on Friday.

The US$7 million ($9.9 million) film set a record for a film opening on Super Bowl weekend, beating last year's $US16.1 million ($22.7 million) bow of the hip-hop flavoured drama You Got Served.

Lawless plays the mother of Barry Watson (TV's 7th Heaven) who is a young man tormented by a childhood run-in with the titular monster.

The film was made by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures, the company behind The Grudge.

The top 10 contained just one other new release - The Wedding Date, a romantic comedy which opened at number two with $US11.0 million ($15.5 million).