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MADRID -- Santiago Segura's Torrente 3: El Protector broke Spanish opening weekend records grossing more than €7.2 million from 1,380,000 ticket sales. Featuring politically incorrect private detective Torrente, the movie, which opened Friday, Sept. 30, on 465 screens, unseated previous record holder Star Wars: Episode III, which took €6.1 million (495 screens). Torrente 3 is written, directed, produced and stars Segura, whose production house Amiguetes Entertainment produced the film. UIP holds Spanish distribution rights. Torrente 2 grossed more than €22 million in 2001 and the first Torrente, which set box office records in its day, took $707,000.

MADRID -- While Spanish films posted a significant drop in market share for last year, the local film industry didn't perform as badly as had been expected, according to the Culture Ministry's official year-end figures, released Tuesday. Spanish films cornered 13.6% of the moviegoing audience and earned €85.4 million ($93 million) at the boxoffice, a 22% decline from 2001. Although the figures are a significant drop from 2001's 18.5% share and €110 million, they exceed the estimated $73.1 million announced in mid-December. Tickets sold to Spanish films dropped by only 7.1 million despite the fact that 2001 boasted two record-breaking films, Alejandro Amenabar's The Others and Santiago Segura's Torrente 2.