UIP's final release of the year Meet The Parents had a warm welcome in the UK opening with a healthy $3.3m (£2.3m), clinching the top spot from fellow UIP title The Grinch. Playing at 402 cinemas, the Jay Roach-directed comedy pulled in a robust site average of $8,298 over the weekend (Dec 15-17). Starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, the film - which has clocked up $160m in North America - received generally positive reviews across the country and will help stabilise box office revenues over the year-end.

Jim Carrey's Christmas movie The Grinch dropped 37% to number two in the chart with a three-day gross of $2.4m (£1.6m) bringing its cumulative gross to a respectable $13m after 17 days. However, it will be a close-run battle to see whether Dinosaur retains its position as the 10th highest grossing film in the UK this year or if The Grinch can earn another $8m to bump the Disney animated feature from the its place in the year-end chart.

On its second weekend Buena Vista International's 102 Dalmatians settled at number three with a gross of $1.4m, while Charlie's Angels fell 52% to fourth position.

Col TriStar's new release The 6th Day starring Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled in $864,898 (£586,401) from 293 sites for a so-so average of $2,951 (£2,001) and a place at number five in the weekend chart.

Of the limited releases, FilmFour's Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke opened on a 13 screens for a disappointing three-day gross of $17,432 (£11,819) while Downtown's re-release of The Apartment scooped $10,724 (£7,271) from 4 screens.