Martin Scorsese's epic movie Gangs Of New York has been unable to knock Lord of the Rings fantasy The Two Towers from the top of the UK and Ireland film charts.

The ambitious film, which stars Leonardo Di Caprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz, was the second most popular film with UK audiences over the past week.

It took £2.62m, while the second of Peter Jackson's Rings films managed £3.78m.

Released in December, The Two Towers has already taken £44.5m in the UK and Ireland alone.

Gangs of New York, based on a book about gang warfare in the city around the time of the American Civil War, had been tipped to take first place.

Top five

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Gangs of New York The Tuxedo Star Trek: Nemesis Die Another Day source:Screen International

The three-hour film suffered setback during filming in Italy, with director Martin Scorsese having arguments with producer Harvey Weinstein over editing.

The film was heavily promoted, with the stars flying over to the UK to do press. But it has struggled to win over some critics.

The third biggest film of the week was The Tuxedo, a martial arts comedy featuring Hong Kong star Jackie Chan and actress Jennifer Love-Hewitt, also in its first week.

Star Trek: Nemesis, the tenth of the Star Trek spin-offs, dropped two places to number four.

Die Another Day, the fourth James Bond film to feature Pierce Brosnan, is at number five.

The only other new entry this week was The Good Girl, at number nine, a dark romantic story starring Friends actress Jennifer Aniston.