The Lord Of The Rings - The Return Of The King, The Last Samurai and Cold Mountain were the first, second and third most popular films at the box office, just as they were last weekend, although takings for each of them dropped by between NZ$60,000 and NZ$90,000.

Snapping at their heels in its opening weekend from fourth position, with a NZ$140,835 gross from 38 screens for Roadshow, was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Something's Gotta Give was fifth and UIP's Lost In Translation, took an impressive NZ$127,641 from a modest seven screens after two weekends on previews to claim the sixth spot. Lost In Translation's NZ$18,234 screen average on what was its opening weekend was nearly three times greater than the next highest.

Two other openers made it into the top 20. Homegrown film Perfect Strangers, which took NZ $69,122 from 20 screens for Fox, claimed the 13th spot, and BVI/Miramax's Dirty Pretty Things just scraped into last position.

But Columbia TriStar's Big Fish, which was on previews, grossed more than either of them, taking NZ$93,848 from 41 screens to become the ninth most popular film in the chart.