Cinema-goers' appetite for Hannibal Lecter saw the third film featuring the fictional cannibal, Red Dragon, shoot straight to the top of the North American box office this weekend.

But its takings fell far short of the previous Hannibal Lecter movie, Hannibal, also featuring actor Sir Anthony Hopkins in the title role.

The adaptation of the first novel in the series by Thomas Harris took $37.5m (£23.9m) in its opening weekend, according to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

This compared with the $58m (£37m) taken in Hannibal's first three days in February 2001.

Red Dragon still managed to push romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama off the top spot.

Top Five

1. Red Dragon 2. Sweet Home Alabama 3. The Tuxedo 4. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 5. Barbershop

The hit comedy features Reese Witherspoon as a top New York fashion designer, who returns to her deep south hometown seeking a divorce.

It took $21.6m (£13.8m) in the past three days.

At number three, the Jackie Chan action-comedy The Tuxedo took $10.1m (£6.4m), also down one spot in its second weekend.

Record-breaking hit

My Big Fat Greek Wedding, at number four, has become the highest grossing independent film in history, surpassing the $140m total of The Blair Witch Project.

The wedding tale has surpassed The Blair Witch Project

It added $8.5m (£5.4m) in its 25th weekend bringing its total up to $148m (£94.6m).

Nia Vardalos stars as a frumpy waitress who causes chaos in her Greek-American family when she falls in love.

Two other new entries in the top 10 were biblical cartoon Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie at number six with $6.5m (£4.1m) while the Dustin Hoffman-Susan Sarandon family saga Moonlight Mile jumped 11 places to number nine with $2m (£1.3m).

The top 12 films took $103m (£65.8m), up 12% from last weekend, and up 24% from a year ago when Training Day opened at number one with $22m (£14m).