Three new films failed to dislodge two Icon films, The Butterfly Effect and The Passion Of The Christ, from the top two spots in the charts and had to settle for third, fourth and fifth in the popularity stakes.

The opening trio was UIP's Paycheck, which took A$756,656 from 192 screens, 20th Century Fox's Agent Cody Banks 2, which grossed A$634,634 from 171 screens, and BVI's Hidalgo, which sold A$521,160 worth of tickets to 150 screens.

The third Icon film in the chart is Monster, which was on previews. It grossed A$162,886 from 43 screens to claim the 13th spot.

It appears that the Academy Award landslide had no lasting affect on the performance of Return Of The King, which slid six places down the chart on the weekend. But then it can't have too much more wind in its sails given that it has now been in the charts for 13 weeks, is the highest grossing film released in the last year - and the second highest ever.