horror film heads us box office a low-budget horror film produced by evil dead director sam raimi has topped the north american box office.  boogeyman  which focuses on a man who returns to his childhood home to confront his traumatic past  took $19.5m (£14.9m) in three days. last week s chart-topper  the robert de niro thriller hide and seek  fell to number four. other new entries included the wedding date  a comedy starring will and grace s debra messing  at number two.  the road-trip comedy are we there yet  and multiple oscar nominee million dollar baby completed the top five. other oscar contenders  including the aviator and sideways  continued to perform strongly at the box office. the aviator has taken $75m (£40m) so far  while sideways has taken $46.8m (£24.8m) in a more limited release.  boogeyman  which cost just $7m (£3.5m) to make  performed well even though it was not screened to critics before release - normally a sign that a film will get bad reviews or perform poorly at the box office.  i certainly believe it s a genre where people are going to be more moved by the marketing materials for the movie than by what the critics say   said rory bruer  head of distribution for sony pictures  which released the film in the us. overall the weekend box office was strong despite the fact that it was american football s super bowl weekend - a time when cinema admissions generally fall. this year  the top 12 films grossed around $91m (£48.3m)  compared to 2004 s super bowl weekend when the total box office was $73.4m (£38.9m).