It was a very unusualweekend at the New Zealand box office with nearly half the films rising up inthe chart instead of dropping down. This was caused by a combination of factorsincluding children being back at school, which has given more grown-up films aboost, strong word of mouth being created by previews and, in the case of acouple of limited release pictures, the addition of a few more prints.

UIP's Ray and BVI's FindingNeverland, for example, were able to claim the first and second spotsdespite being fourth and fifth in the chart on the previous weekend. Ray,in its second weekend in cinemas, grossed NZ$177,300 from 42 screens, while FindingNeverland, in its fourth weekend, took NZ$167,624 from 34 screens. Theydisplaced 20th Century Fox's Elektra, which came third.

After a week of previews,Roadshow's Million Dollar Baby and 20th Century Fox's Sidewayswere fourth and sixth after being eleventh and fourteenth last weekend.

The only other opener in thechart besides Million Dollar Baby and Sidways was UIP's SkyCaptain And The World Of Tomorrow. It grossed NZ$43,837 from 36 screens toclaim thirteenth spot. No films on previews made an appearance.