Media Asia's Infernal Affairs III kicked off the Christmas box office season with a stellar US$2.14m in its first six days. The film grossed HK$3.22m on its opening day (Dec 12), smashing several records including the biggest non-weekend opening of the year.

The highly-anticipated conclusion to Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's crime thriller trilogy opened on 104 screens - the widest opening ever in Hong Kong - and racked up 580 shows in a single day, which is also a record.

The film also broke records on its first day in China where it took RMB4.12m - the biggest opening day box office of the year in the PRC. It was also the biggest opener of the year in Taiwan where it took NT$4.27m on its opening day.

Love Actually held up reasonably well against the mammoth release of Infernal Affairs III, with a respectable screen average of US$9,723. However, both films face the release of The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King this week and Applause Pictures' Golden Chicken II the week after.