The first outing in cinemas by UIP's Shrek 2 got an amazing response from Australian families on itsfour-day opening weekend, taking A$13,156,604 from 437 screens. By way ofcomparison, Roadshow's Harry Potter Andthe Prisoner of Azkaban took A$14,799,003 a week earlier, but it was on 16more screens and had one more day to pull in patrons as it was the Queen'sbirthday holiday weekend in all but one state.

The enthusiasm for the Shreksequel gave it a screen average of A$30,106. Harry Potter's was A$32,741 when it opened but for its secondouting it dropped to A$9,014 as the gross plummeted 72% to A$4,074,465 underthe force of the green monster. School holidays roll out around the nation on astaggered basis starting this week and that will help keep both films in theminds of potential audiences.

The only new face in the chart beside Shrek 2 is Hopscotch's TouchingThe Void which only just fell short of getting in the top 10.