New LineInternational's About Schmidt opened in third place in Italy over the weekend, grossing $1.3mfrom 188 screens. Although it finished behind Catch Me If You Can and The Lord Of The Rings: The TwoTowers, the black comedyaveraged $6,860 - the best performance in the top 50. The picture opened seventhin Australia on $566,092 from 46 screens. The $12,306 average was the highestin the top 20. About Schmidt opened top of the table in Argentina, where it took $98,529 from26 screens to beat off The Two Towers into second spot and Gangs Of New York into third. To date About Schmidt has grossed $8.1m at the internationalbox office.

The horror sequel FinalDestination 2 opened in third placein the UK through Entertainment, grossing a three-day total of $2.8m from 360screens for a $7,664 average. By way of comparison, the 2000 original took$2.3m over a four-day opening weekend in 2000. Final Destination 2 has a $9.4m international running total.

Meanwhile TheLord Of The Rings: The Two Towers continued its phenomenal worldwide march and now has an internationalrunning total of $466.4m. In Italy the sequel passed the final total for FellowshipOf The Ring on Feb 7,only 23 days after its release. The territory total now stands at $24.5m.