The NZ$555,222 gross for Starsky& Hutch on its opening weekend was the biggest at the New Zealand boxoffice since The Last Samurai opened over three months ago. TheBVI/Miramax comedy went out on 48 screens, considerably less than the screencount of each of the next four films in the chart.

Starsky & Hutch was also the hit of the week in terms of itsNZ$11,567 screen average. The only other film that came close was 50 FirstDates, which took NZ$456,833 from 56 screens in its second week, whichequated to a screen average of NZ$8,158.

Apart from ColumbiaTriStar's Mona Lisa Smile, which slipped down to twelfth position in itsfifth week in the charts, all the other films in the top 10 list are the sameas the previous week with only a little shuffling of the order.

The only other new face inthe chart was Roadshow's Taking Lives on previews. Its modest gross ofNZ$46,760, from only 16 screens, allowed it to claim the eleventh spot in thechart.