The first four days of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village was the strongest openingever for one of his films in Germany and the weekend's best screen average of$7,370. The Buena Vista release toppled the Vin Diesel vehicle The Chronicles Of Riddick which had onlyheld on to the top position for one week. Takings on this sci-fi fantasy filmslipped week-on-week by 60% to an overall gross of $ 3.8m.

Meanwhile, the local blockbuster (T)Raumschiff Surprise passed the 9m admissions mark and overallgross of $61m (Euros 50m) in its eighth week of release. The release may nowreceive a further boost in the coming weeks now that a new TV series featuringthe film's stars Michael 'Bully' Herbig and Rick Kavanian has startedon private channel ProSieben.