FengXiaogang's A World Without Thieves knocked Bridget Jones off thetop spot but failed to lift the overall box office out of its recent downwardslide.

The action drama, co-produced by Hong Kong's MediaAsia and Beijing-based Huayi Brothers, grossed US$342,335 from 48 screens.

Itperformed much better on the mainland where it took RMB30m in its firstfour-day weekend, surpassing Feng's previous hit, Cell Phone. The film,which stars Andy Lau, Rene Liu and Ge You, is expected to reach RMB80-100m,confirming the director's popularity with mainland audiences.

Amongother openers, Francois Ozon's 5x2, distributed by Golden Scene, scoredthe highest screen average with US$20,424 from 2 screens.