An eclectic slate this upcoming weekend sees key European bows for Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life and American Pie: The Wedding, both of which should do well based on previous form.

Elsewhere two of the summer's more successful performers - 2 Fast 2 Furious and 28 Days Later - will open in Japan, while Pirates Of The Caribbean and T3 can expect strong holdovers to extend their mighty runs.

Paramount's Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life opens through UIP in the UK on Aug 22 on 700 prints.

The distributor will be hoping its adventure sequel can follow on from the original's number one $5.4m three-day bow (including previews) at 444 sites in July 2001.

In France the film was due to open on Aug 20 on 707 prints. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider opened number one there in July 2001, grossing $7.4m from 700 screens in its first seven days.

The film was also due to open in Belgium on Aug 20 on 45 prints and opens in Argentina on Aug 21 on 70. To date Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life has grossed an international total of $15.8m.

UIP will release gross-out comedy Universal's American Pie: The Wedding in Germany on Aug 21 on 750 prints, Austria on Aug 22 on 90 and Spain on Aug 22 on 292.

Currently on an international cumulative score of $12.2m, the third part of the American Pie franchise should prosper. American Pie 2 opened number one in Germany in September 2001 on 814 screens and took $8.5m in its opening four-day weekend.

The Spanish bow for American Pie 2 in December 2001 yielded a number two spot and $2.9m including previews from 288 screens.

UIP will release Paramount's thriller The Italian Job in Australia on Aug 21 and Mexico on Aug 22, both on 265 prints.

The distributor is also handling Universal's street racing sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, which opens in Japan on Aug 23 on 150 prints. The Fast And The Furious opened there in October 2001 in eighth place, grossing $309,510 in its first week from 13 screens.

Fox International's horror-thriller 28 Days Later will look to build on its $27m international running total when it opens in Japan on Aug 23 on 80 prints.

By way of comparison, the horror film Resident Evil scored a number one bow and grossed $1.1m from 15 screens in its first week in Japan in September 2001.

The distributor will also release action-adventure The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen - currently on a $3.8m international total - in New Zealand on Aug 21 on 50 prints and Puerto Rico the same day on 51.

New Line's comedy sequel Dumb And Dumber 2 opens in Italy on Aug 21 on a small 180 prints. It previewed last week but figures were not available at time of writing. The film has a $6.6m international total to date.

Buena Vista International's (BVI) Pirates Of The Caribbean opens in Hong Kong on Aug 21 and Switzerland on Aug 20.

A terrific session last weekend catapulted the adventure's international gross to $76.7m and strong holdovers are expected to raise the score considerably.

BVI will also open the comedy Bringing Down The House - currently on $28.5m at the international box office - in Holland on Aug 22.

Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI) has no major bows for Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines this weekend, but decent holdovers should improve the sci-fi sequel's $219.2m international total ($150.3m from CTFDI territories alone).

CTFDI opens the comedy Daddy Day Care - currently on $31.6m - in Taiwan on Aug 23 on 81 screens. It will also roll out Bad Boys II - currently on $9.7m - in Thailand on Aug 22 on 150 screens and the thriller Identity in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Colombia.