Avatar races to top of UK film chart

James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar has topped the UK and Ireland box office in its first weekend of release.

The film, set in the 22nd Century on a distant planet, took £8.5m, blowing away nearest rival St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold with £1.6m.

It is the third biggest opening of 2009 in the UK behind Twilight: New Moon at £11.7m and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at £19.8m.

Avatar reportedly cost up to $400m (£248.2m) to make and market.

Last week’s number one film, Disney’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, fell to three after seven weeks on the chart.

British comedy Nativity! starring Martin Freeman and Ashley Jensen rose two spots to four.

Family animation Planet 51 – the story of an alien race living the life of 1950s America – fell to five while Where the Wild Things Are slipped four places to six.

Meanwhile musical film Nine, featuring an all-star cast including Dame Judi Dench, Daniel Day Lewis and Nicole Kidman, made an appearance at number 13 after showing at just one venue in the UK, taking £44,443 in ticket sales.
[BBC News]