The latest title in the Star Trek film franchise opened well in the UK over the first weekend of the new year, taking second place with $3.1m (£1.96m) - including $536,135 or previews.

Despite recording a good site average of $7,365 from its 426 locations the sci-fi adventure, the tenth in the series, still seemed to be slightly harmed by the largely mediocre reviews. Whether it drops off as quickly as it has done in the US remains to be seen. However, the film may have more shelf life in the UK due to the added publicity Star Trek is receiving in the country thanks to the interactive entertainment exhibition: Star Trek: The Adventure, which is currently taking place in London's Hyde Park.

Similar to its performance in North America, Star Trek: Nemesis had the lowest opening of any of the Next Generation titles, which star Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes. Star Trek: Generations launched at 326 venues in February 1995 for $3.3m (£2.04m); First Contact managed a stellar $3.8m (£2.4m) from 331 sites in December 1996; and January 1999's Insurrection took $4.3m (£2.7m) from 408. All four titles were released by UIP.

Nemesis was unable to even come close to toppling Entertainment's The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers which dropped off just 29% this weekend to take $9.25m (£5.8m). With a cumulative total of $61.7m (£38.5m) after just three weeks on release the fantasy sequel is outpacing 2001's original, The Fellowship Of The Ring, which had taken $56.1m (£35m) during the same period.

Another strong opener this week was Buena Vista International's City Of God (Cidade De Deus) in sixth place. The Brazilian language title claimed $492,271 (£307,177) over the weekend, including $64,409 of previews - a strong opening for a foreign language title in the UK. City Of God received overwhelmingly positive reviews from the critics in the country. It scored a site average of $6,477.

Helkon SK's limited launch of David Cronenberg's Spider also performed well, taking $102,697 (£64,083) from just 19 locations for a good average of $5,405. The film, which stars Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson and Gabriel Byrne, landed 11th position and will expand on January 17.

Just behind Spider at 12 was Shree Krishna Films' Talaash. The Indian title grossed $102,188 (£63,765) from 25 sites for a three-day average of $4,088.

Rounding out the top five this week were Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets ($1.8m), Die Another Day ($1.75m) - both dropping 27% from the previous week - and BVI's Sweet Home Alabama ($1.4m). The Reese Witherspoon comedy dropped off just 5% in its third week on release and now has a total gross of $6m.