While Wolfgang Petersen's Troy held on to the top spot with only a 9% drop in takings overthe previous weekend to gross over $19.9m, the local German film industry wasgiven a welcome boost by the strong opening of Tobi Baumann's Der Wixxer, a send-up of the 1960s EdgarWallace crime mystery films, whose screen average of $7,630 was only second toTroy's $7,779.

(When Roland Emmerich's TheDay After Tomorrow is released by 20th Century Fox this Thursday (May 27),it is likely that the top three spots for the coming Whitsun holiday weekendwill thus be occupied by films from German-born directors).

Produced by Rat Pack Filmproduktion with the private mediafund German Film Productions (GFP), DerWixxer features the creme de la creme of the German comedy scene, includingOliver Kalkofe, Bastian Pastewka, Oliver Welke, Olli Dietrich and Anke Engelke(known to international guests of the Berlinale for co-presenting the openingand closing ceremonies with director Dieter Kosslick).

Booking and billing for the Falcom release has been passedthrough a new outfit To The Movies due to the uncertainty about Central Film'sfuture following the insolvency of Senator Entertainment.