Entertainment Film Distributors enjoyed a mighty double-headed victory at the UK box office this week with The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers and new release Gangs Of New York in the top two positions.

Martin Scorsese's long awaited and much anticipated period epic Gangs Of New York, launched on Friday (Jan 10) following a West-End premiere on Tuesday which saw stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jim Broadbent, as well as the legendary director himself, in attendance. The film claimed $4.2m (£2.6m) from 385 sites over the weekend for a powerful $10,952 average per location and second place in the chart.

The Two Towers held the top spot for the fourth weekend running, dropping off just 35% from the previous weekend to take $6m (£3.7m). Playing at 513 venues, the fantasy sequel scored an average of $11,686 and now boasts a cumulative take of $71.6m (£44.5m).

In third, UIP saw a strong opening for action comedy The Tuxedo. The Jackie Chan vehicle, which co-stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, managed $1.7m (£1.1m) from 258 sites in the crowded marketplace - giving it a good $6,733 average.

Star Trek: Nemesis, also from UIP, seems to be following a similar path in the UK to its US release and dropped 50% this week from its opening weekend. The film took up fourth position with $1.3m (£808,579) from 424 locations and has grossed $5.4m after ten days on release.

Also showing a good launch this week was 20th Century Fox's The Good Girl. The comedy drama landed ninth off a limited release which saw it lay in just 28 venues. With a three-day take of $183,658 (£114,235) and an average of $6,559, the Jennifer Aniston title looks set to be yet another limited release hit in the UK following recent successes such as Momentum Pictures' Bowling For Columbine ($2m after nine weeks, placed 15 this week) and BVI's The Quiet American ($2.8m after seven weeks, placed 10 this week).

Performing less well was Warner Bros' Robert De Niro drama City By The Sea. The film opened at 53 sites to claim $125,299 (£77,936) for an average of $2,364. Meanwhile BVI's 77 location Brazilian release City Of God (Cidade De Deus) improved 3% on its opening weekend, taking $441,389 (£274,544). Fernando Meirelles' film now has a ten day cumulative gross of $1.2m.

In its last week playing at just three screens at the Warner West End before launching wide, Chicago took in another $108,368 (£67,405) in its third weekend - a mere 18% drop off from last week. Tipped for success at this weekend's Golden Globe awards the musical, which stars Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta Jones and Richard Gere, looks set to enjoy a strong response this weekend.