The epic battle tale Kingdom of Heaven fought its way to the top of the US box office, taking in US$20 million in its debut weekend, but it did little to boost slumping revenues at the start of the summer movie season.
The film by Gladiator director Ridley Scott features heartthrob Orlando Bloom as a warrior in Jerusalem between the Second and Third Crusades.
The film has struck a chord in the Arab world, where movie-goers say it has challenged the Hollywood stereotype of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists.
"The film goes against religious fanaticism very clearly. All that goes against hatred, fanaticism and systematic opposition between those two worlds is welcome," said Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, author of The Crusades Through Arab Eyes.
Kingdom was followed in the rankings by House of Wax, starring socialite Paris Hilton, which brought in US$12.2 million, according to studio estimates.
The other notable new movie last weekend was Crash, which features Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon and rapper Chris ``Ludacris'' Bridges in intertwining stories examining racial stereotypes in Los Angeles. The R-rated film played in 1,864 theaters and finished fourth with US$9.1 million.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy dropped to third place with nearly US$9.13 million after debuting last weekend at the top spot.
Hollywood's box-office slump continued with revenues down for the 11th straight weekend compared to the same weekend last year, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
The top 12 movies grossed US$76.9 million, down 24 percent from last year at this time when Van Helsing and Mean Girls were the top movies.
This year's MTV Movie Awards will feature performances by Nine Inch Nails and Eminem.
The 14th annual awards show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, will be taped June 4 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The show will air June 9.
Nine Inch Nails will perform their single The Hand That Feeds, and Eminem will perform his new single, Ass Like That, MTV announced Tuesday.
Winners will be decided by viewer voting by phone or online at MTV.com.
Pakistan has agreed "in principle" to screen one of the great classics of Indian cinema, breaching a longstanding ban on theaters showing Indian films.
In yet another sign of warming relations between South Asia's erstwhile enemies, the film Mughal-e-Azam will become the first Indian movie to be legally screened in Pakistani cinemas once it gets approval from the censor board.
Set in the 16th century AD during the rule of the Muslim emperor Akbar, Mughal-e-Azam brings to life the tale of the doomed love affair between Crown Prince Saleem and the beautiful court dancer Anarkali.
Pakistan and India have embarked on a series of confidence-building measures, including forging cultural links along with opening bus routes for more people-to-people contact.
President Pervez Musharraf gave his support to the sceening of the 1960 classic, after receiving a request from the family of Mughal-e-Azam's director, K. Asif.
Indian films are hugely popular in Pakistan, and a flourishing bootleg DVD industry the advent of satellite television means Pakistanis can now watch Bollywood movies at home, even if they cannot see them at the cinema.
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