US and Canada box office

1. The Panic Room 2. High Crimes 3. Ice Age 4. The Rookie 5. National Lampoon's Van Wilder 6. Clockstoppers 7. Blade 2 8. Big Trouble 9. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial 10. A Beautiful Mind

Foster stars as a recently divorced mother who, along with her daughter, is hiding from burglars in a room in their New York home.

Jeff Blake, president of worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony, said he was delighted with the film's success.

He said: "To be number one two weeks in a row is pretty rare: Lord of the Rings and Black Hawk Down are the only other films that have done it this year."

Foster held off another female-driven thriller, High Crimes, which saw Judd team up again with her Kiss the Girls co-star Morgan Freeman.

Judd plays an attorney facing a possible military cover-up when she defends her husband against charges of slaughtering civilians.

It took $15m (£13.1m) and Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox, said the competition with Foster's movie may have dented High Crimes takings.

He said: "I think Panic Room certainly had an effect on High Crimes, given they're both female-driven movies."

Ashley Judd's new movie took $15m (£13.1m)

The animated adventure Ice Age and Disney comedy The Rookie both fell a place to numbers three and four.

Rounding out the top five is another comedy, National Lampoon's Van Wilder.

The college spoof took $7.5m (£6.5m).

The big flop of the weekend was Big Trouble, a comedy starring Tim Allen and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the man behind Men in Black and Get Shorty. It took only $3.7m (£3.2m).

The film's release date had been delayed because of the 11 September attacks as it features a nuclear device being smuggled onto a plane.

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial looks set to become the third highest grossing movie ever in the US.

The re-release of the classic sci-fi drama, to mark its 20th anniversary, has taken $30.5m (£26.7m) in a month.

Its total takings are now $430.3m (£377.6m), just $800,000 (£702,000) short of third place Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace.