For the fourth consecutive weekend The Passion Of The Christ has held its position as the most popular film in NZ cinemas. It grossed NZ$192,008 for Hoyts/Icon from 29 screens. UIP's challenger was Paycheck but the NZ$164,695 worth of ticket sales for 38 screens was only enough for it to claim second place.

New Zealanders showed their support for locally-born Jane Campion's In The Cut to the tune of NZ$89,325 from only 15 screens. That was enough to give Columbia TriStar the fifth spot after Roadshow's The Return Of The King in its thirteenth week and Columbia TriStar's The Missing in its second.

The only film that has been in the charts longer than the hobbits is Roadshow's Mystic River, which is now in its sixteenth week. The Return Of The King, however, has done 20 times the business in monetary terms.

The third opener in the chart was BVI's The Human Stain, which took NZ$23,952 from 10 screens.