Johnny English lured SARS-wary Hong Kong audiences back into cinemas over the Easter holiday, grossing $579,000 from 31 sites over the four-day weekend. However, Golden Harvest was disappointed with the performance of its other Easter release -Bulletproof Monk - which grossed $229,500.

According to Golden Harvest distribution chief, Teerachai Triwongwaranat, Bulletproof Monk was hurt by the day-and-date release of the official DVD and VCD on the mainland, which gave rise to parallel imports and pirated copies. 'We're very disappointed,' Triwongwaranat said. 'The film should have been given a theatrical window across the region.'

Pirated copies of Bulletproof Monk have been available in Asia since January but were of inferior quality and missing the beginning and ending of the film. It is believed an illegal copy was made during a test screening in the US, marking one of the worst cases of copyright theft in the region.

Of the other new releases, Johnnie To's cop thriller PTU grossed $156,420 over the four days, while China Star's Why Me, Sweetie', now in its second week, took with $215,400. Its cumulative gross stands at an encouraging $1m.

According to industry body, the Motion Picture Industry Association, overall takings for the weekend were 'better than expected' but still 40% lower than last Easter.

'The figures were not as bad as we thought they might be - probably because people didn't travel over the holiday and needed entertainment,' said MPIA CEO Woody Tsung.