Harry Potter still wizard in UK as newbies Super 8 and Mr Popper’s Penguins are among six to gross over £1m

Warner Bros’ Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 came top of the UK box office for the fourth consecutive weekend, grossing $5.4m from a week-high 525 screens and screen average of £5,353.

The film is the first to go four weeks on top in the UK since Toy Story 3 achieved the feat one year ago.

Deathly Hallows 2, the number one film of this year, is now seventh on the all time UK chart and will overtake sixth-placed The Lord Of The Ring’s: The Fellowship Of The Rings this week. The smash should end up close if not above fifth-placed Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, the best in the Potter franchise.

JJ Abrams’ second-placed sci-fi-thriller Super 8 failed to ignite on debut, making £2.2m from 497 screens at an average of £4,441.

While lacking big names and franchise history, Paramount must have been hoping for the JJ Abrams-Spielberg combo to reap greater rewards, especially with Potter into its fourth week.

Similarly, Fox are unlikely to be jumping for joy at the performance of third-placed Mr Popper’s Penguins, whose solid but unspectacular £1.5m from 474 screens ranks among Jim Carrey’s poorer comedy openings in the UK.

Paramount’s fourth-placed Captain America: The First Avenger was the biggest faller in the top ten, dropping 51% over its holdover weekend, but still did almost as well as debutant Mr Popper’s Penguins on $1.47m from 481 screens.

Cars 2 and Horrible Bosses rounded out the six titles to gross over £1m, a common feat in August, but rare for other periods in the year.

However, while the UK displayed decent depth there was a noticable lack of big hitters last weekend. The £12.9m total box office was 14% down on last weekend and 23% down on this time last year when Toy Story 3 was still impressing.

Horrid Henry: The Movie took £833,262 in its second week for £3.7m at a slightly disappointing screen average of £1,970 while Element’s tenth-placed The Guard continued to impress over its fifth weekend in Ireland, grossing another £202,000 for £2.7m. John Michael McDonagh’s comedy-thriller is now second only to The Wind That Shakes The Barley on the Irish Film Board’s chart of the top ten Irish films.  

Optimum’s Holocaust-themed drama Sarah’s Key was the only other newcomer in the top 15, taking £116,211 from 35 locations at a good £3,418 average.

This week sees saturation release for The Smurfs, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and The Devil’s Double.

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