20th Century Fox Italia's ice age fantasy The Day After Tomorrow swept into theItalian box office at number one, grossing $3,675,270 from 543 screens for astrong screen average of $6,768.

The weekend's four other new releases paled in comparison:Istituto Luce's Argentinian film, LostEmbrace (El Abrazo Partido) opened in seventh position, grossing $65,169from 49 screens for a weak average of $1,330 per screen.

Italian arthouse film Pontormo- Un Amore Eretico, which stars Joe Mantegna as a 16th century painter,earned just $60,083 for Eagle Pictures, the local powerhouse whose slateusually features horror and thriller multiplex fare.

Song For A Raggy Boyalso flopped: The drama, based on a true story about a man who fights againstthe strict regime of a boys Irish Reformatory School in 1939, grossed $31,007for DNC Distribuzione, for an average of just $564 per screen.

Fandango also struggled with its German-Italian-Serbianrelease, Strawberries In The Supermarketwhich registered $27,436 from 32 screens.

Meanwhile, Italian picture L'Amore Di Marja posted the fourth highest screen average despiteshowing on just 6 screens and having been on release for 13 weeks. The picture,distributed by La Trincea, tells the story of an open-minded Scandinavian girlin the 1970s who falls in love and marries a Sicilian boy, and eventually movesto his small hometown with their two young children.

Directed by Anne Riitta Ciccone, the film recorded a screenaverage of $2,905, and has so far grossed $492,205.