The second lacklustre week in a row at the Hong Kong box office suggests that audiences spent their hard-earned cash on local event films Running On Karma and Infernal Affairs II earlier in the month and need strong persuasion to visit the cinema again.

Of this week's five new openers, local comedy The Spy Dad, starring Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Gillian Chung, topped the box office with $471,468 and a screen average of $14,733. Produced and directed Wong Jing - a prolific filmmaker even by Hong Kong's standards - the film is about an actor with a James Bond persona who turns out to be a coward in real life.

Another Hong Kong production - 3D horror flick The Park - opened in second position with $244,313 and a screen average of $8,144. Directed by Andrew Lau, who along with Alan Mak directed smash hit crime thriller Infernal Affairs, the low-budget film follows seven young people who are trapped in a haunted amusement park.

Korean romantic comedy Crazy First Love came in third with $219,758 and a healthy screen average of $13,735.