UIP's Along Came Polly saw a stunning launch in the UK and Ireland last weekend slipping easily into first place with a $4.2m gross.

Along Came Polly is the latest comedy success in the UK following strong showing so far this year for Scary Movie 3 ($16.7m to date), School Of Rock ($16.2m), Something's Gotta Give ($10.6m), comedy drama Lost In Translation ($15.8m) and comedy fantasy Big Fish ($10.6m).

The Ben Stiller-Jennifer Aniston comedy showed a $10,855 location average from its 385 sites as the family films dominant for the past two weeks, all took tumbles without the school half-term boost. The success of Along Came Polly will no doubt also please BVI which launches another Stiller-toplined film, Starsky & Hutch, later this month - first in London's West End and the Republic of Ireland on March 12 and a week later across the UK on March 19.

More serious fare from Columbia TriStar, Ron Howard's western The Missing, and BVI's, House Of Sand And Fog, were unable to ignite the box office against the comedy Polly.

Better results were seen for Tartan Films' Hong Kong title Infernal Affairs. The first part of a trilogy by directors Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak, the crime drama pulled in a strong $4,589 screen average from its 27 locations and landed 18th place in the chart.