The Return Of The King continues to reign supreme at the New Zealand box office. In its seventh weekend it took NZ$384,449 from 86 screens, which was just 6% down on the previous week. As was the case last week, The Last Samurai is in second position with NZ$301,379 from 62 screens, a fall of 21.5% in its third weekend. Roadshow is the distributor of both films.

The third film in the chart, BVI/Miramax's Cold Mountain, is showing a very healthy screen average. Its earnings of NZ$255,570 from 30 screens equates to NZ$8,519 per screen - helped by the attention always lavished on big pictures in the lead up to them opening.

The stand-out screen average of the weekend, however, belongs to Lost In Translation. In its second weekend of previews it has scored NZ$13,021 per screen for UIP thanks to a gross of NZ$78,124 from six screens.