France's 20thannual Fete du Cinema promotion got off to a roaring start on Sunday with arecord score of 1.5 million admissions - up 60% over last year's first daytake.

In Paris, 315,000 tickets were soldrepresenting the best opening day in the past decade. Despite beautiful weatheracross the entire country, moviegoers came out in force.

A rich selection of films ison offer including Shrek 2, Harry Potter 3, French action-comedy DoubleZero, Agnes Jaoui vehicle Le Role De Sa Vie, comedy Qui PerdGagne and the year's number one film Les Choristes.

The three day event, during whichticket prices are reduced to Euros 1.50 following the purchase of one fullprice ticket, is sponsored by the National Cinema Federation (FNCF).