Pathe's Rat Race was the winner amongst this week's melee of new releases in the UK but was still unable to topple The Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter from their one-two chart positions. The best average recorded by an opener this week was for Metrodome's limited release of Last Orders. Going out on just 25 sites the UK title, which features Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins, recorded $145,739 (£100,560) for an average of $5,830 and taking position 13 in the chart. Last Orders widens to another 45 sites next weekend.

Rat Race, directed by Jerry Zucker, landed in third place recording a good weekend gross of $1.46m (£1m). Playing at 292 sites the ensemble comedy, including Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg and Cuba Gooding Jr, saw a healthy average of $4,987 - higher than second placed Potter's $3,166 average.

Another Pathe release, holdover Mulholland Drive, saw a 10% increase on its opening weekend taking $214,684. Showing at 29 sites, two more than last week, the David Lynch film managed an average of $7,403. Its 10-day gross stands at $531,349.

Three other openers made the chart this week. UIP's John Travolta-Vince Vaughn thriller Domestic Disturbance took sixth place with $583,822 from 221 sites. Warner Bros' Rock Star, headlining Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston, claimed $427,497 from 210 sites for eighth position. This was followed in ninth by Momentum Pictures' teen horror Soul Survivors with $290,113 from 110.

Holding the top position in its fourth week, Rings took another $6.3m (£4.4m) from 483 sites bringing its total to date to $60.9m. The Entertainment release faces its first real challenge for the top spot next weekend when Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, distributed by Columbia TriStar, is released.

Filling out the top five were Behind Enemy Lines at four ($894,820) and Mean Machine at five ($674,881).