Italian distributor Eagle Pictures scored a superb release over the weekend (May 16-18) for its Hong Kong-Thailand co-produced pick up The Eye.

The Pang Brothers' (Bangkok Dangerous) horror title took a resounding $1.15m (Euro1m) over the three-day weekend in Italy to land the number one spot and knock 20th Century Fox's X2: X-Men United into second ($670,170).

Playing on 221 screens in the territory - compared to X2's 270 - The Eye recorded an impressive $5,223 average per screen.

The Eye has previously seen solid runs in territories including South Korea ($2.7m for Korea Pictures), Hong Kong ($1.8m, Applause Pictures) and Spain ($1.5m, UIP). It also played for Metro Tartan in the UK last year, taking $203,265 (£125,211).

The horror opens on limited release in New York and Los Angeles for Palm Pictures from June 6. A-Film Distribution release it on June 19 in The Netherlands, while EuropaCorp Distribution will unleash The Eye in France from July 16.