Slumdog Millionaire is still top of the UK box office despite a raft of high profile films opening last Friday.
A combination of awards season buzz, word of mouth and the fact that it is really good, helped it take £2.8 million over the weekend, which leaves its current UK gross at £10.2 million.
Given that its production budget was just $15, this is very good indeed. And all this despite a terrible UK poster.
Fantasy horror sequel Underworld: Rise of The Lycans opened at five, whilst Oscar contender Frost/Nixon came in at nine.
Best picture nominee Milk made its debut at 14 in limited release.
Here are the top 15 films at the UK box office:
- Slumdog Millionaire (Pathe) £2,806,996 / £10,239,371
- Valkyrie (Fox) £1,854,195 / £1,854,195
- My Bloody Valentine (Lionsgate) £1,182,514 / £3,347,088
- Seven Pounds (Sony) 2 £1,089,129 / £3,356,438
- Underworld 3 (Entertainment) £990,285 / £990,285
- Role Models (Universal) £951,449 / £6,157,336
- Bride Wars (Fox) £950,538 / £5,351,888
- Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Disney) £918,808 / £2,112,937
- Frost/Nixon (Universal) £591,847 / £591,411
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Paramount) £408,315 / £22,323,063
- The Wrestler (Optimum) £374,214 / £1,592,098
- Milk (Momentum) £336,027 / £336,027
- Defiance (Momentum) £331,680 / £3,309,194
- Bedtime Stories (Disney) £326,634 / £8,084,449
- The Reader (Entertainment) £293,800 / £3,311,282
N.B. Box office numbers for the weekend are followed by the total UK gross.
> Listen to our interview with Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle
> The Times report on Slumdog’s success
[Box Office Data courtesy of Nielsen EDI]