Leonardo Pieraccioni's Italian comedy, Il Paradiso All'Improvviso confirmed its position as the festive season's top blockbuster last weekend, as it grossed a further $2,578,778 bringing its total earnings to a massive $28,934,933.

The Medusa comedy, about a bachelor searching for his soul-mate, recorded an impressive screen average of $6,399 on its fourth weekend on release. It has now overtaken even BVI's Finding Nemo, which has earned a total of $26,683,573 six weeks into its release.

The Italian film's earnings last weekend were second only to The Last Samurai, which opened with a bang at number one with a gross of $ 5,957,583 from 524 screens and a huge screen average of $11,369.

Meanwhile, Dario Argento's widely anticipated new thriller, The Cardplayer, earned a further $776,214 from 215 screens, recording an average of $3,610 per screen. The Medusa film, which stars Stefania Rocca, has now earned $2,727,502 after two weeks.