The advertising may announce that Thunderbirds Are Go! butthe box office results suggest they aren't going very far.

In need of its own international rescue, Jonathan Frakes'film grossed a so-so $2.5m (£1.35m) over its opening weekend includingpreviews. Without the previous weekend previews, which represented $0.5m(£0.29m) of the total takings, the actual opening weekend stood at $1.95m($1.07m).

While a respectable sum, it was not the kind of start UIP,Working Title, Universal and StudioCanal would have hoped for the title in theterritory where the brand name is most familiar.

Thunderbirds facesa tough UK market that also received Spider-Man2 last weekend and is still building great numbers for Shrek 2. Spider-Man 2 may have dropped 50% in its second weekendbut it firmly held the top spot while Shrek2 rapidly approaches the £40m mark.

Another family title also struggled this week. Jean JacquesAnnaud's Two Brothers, the story oftwo tiger siblings separated at birth, their divergent lives and reunion, wasreleased at 270 sites through Pathe. Despite strong reviews the heart-warmingdrama failed to find much of an audience and was left in seventh place with a$1,990 average.

Meanwhile Warner Bros was pleased with its launch of RichardLinklater's belated follow-up to his 1995 cult-hit Before Sunrise, Before Sunset. Again starring Ethan Hawke and JulieDelpy the romantic drama landed ninth place off just 44 sites. The film had aparticularly strong showing in the Republic Of Ireland where it grossed anaverage $7,500 on each of its four screens.

The Irish release of local title Cowboys And Angels was less successful showing a $2,200 averagefrom 20 screens for BVI.