After a glitzy premiere on March 9, the highly-anticipated German biopic Marlene failed to ignite either the critics or the box office in its home territory.

Released on 420 prints, Joseph Vilsmaier's Marlene grossed $0.7m in its opening four days falling into fifth place below the release of Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday.

Constantin's release of Sleepy Hollow kept its place at the top of the chart for the third week running and has taken $6.3m after 17 days. But it is American Beauty that is hitting box office gold having made over $15m and still playing at number two after eight weeks in the chart.

Marlene, released by Senator, is reported to be one of Germany's most expensive local productions released this year - at $9m, and one of the longest at 128 minutes. Domestic films' share of box office fell to 9.5% in 1999 from 17.3% in the previous year. However the German horror film Anatomie, which has taken almost $10m, has kick-started the box office share for local films this year.