Gore-packed flick Hostel travelled to the top of the US box office charts in its debut weekend, preliminary box office estimates said.
Gross ticket sales for the movie were $20.1 million for the Friday to Sunday period.
Directed by Eli Roth and produced by Hollywood violence impresario Quentin Tarantino, Hostel portrays a group of American travellers who fall victim to depraved, torturous violence in a secluded abattoir in eastern Europe.
Fantasy epic The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on a children's literary classic, was last weekend's top film as its long, successful run continued. It fell to second place in the latest three-day period with a gross of $15.4 million.
Another long-running, big-budget competitor, King Kong, raked in $12.5 million.