Finding Nemo exceeded even the wildest hopes of exhibitors, who are in desperate need of a good fourth quarter, by scoring over 2m admissions (without previews) and Euros 13.3m in box office takings from its 1,004 prints. Not only was the Buena Vista release the best opening of 2003 (toppling the previous No. 1 opener Matrix Reloaded) with a screen average of $13,272, but it is also the best first weekend ever for the US major's German office and for an animation film release in Germany.

By accounting for two thirds of the tickets sold in Germany last weekend, Finding Nemo put all the other releases in the shade, including Richard Curtis' Love, Actually which took Euros 2.15m from 497 screens with a screen average of $4,329. Eric Till's Luther held up very well in the face of the new competition, slipping only 16% week-to-week as it passed the 1m admissions mark.

While The Miracle Of Bern looked as if it was beginning to run out of steam (down 38% week-to-week), the political establishment in Germany can't seem to get enough of the father-son/football drama: Edmund Stoiber, prime-minister of Bavaria whose regional fund FFF Bayern backed the film, is the latest politico to want to have a photo-opportunity with director Soenke Wortmann at a special screening in Munich on November 26.