Mission: Impossible 2 proved its blockbuster weight when it opened in the UK over the weekend (July 7-9) grossing $6.27m (£4.14m) from 461 sites, excluding previews of $725,876 (£479,411).

Although healthy, it was not enough to push it into the UK's top 10 opening weekend chart despite playing on around 650 screens. In comparison, Tom Cruise's first caper as Ethan Hunt - released exactly four years ago - grossed $5.72m (£3.78m) excluding previews of $578,890 (£382,333) from 408 sites - an average of $14,025 (£9,263). M:I2, which had a 15 certificate rather than the PG given to the original, pulled in a site average of $13,606 (£8,986) over the three days.

At number two in the chart, Chicken Run was virtually unaffected by M:I2's debut, dropping just 7% from its opening weekend which brought its running total to more than $15m in 10 days. Gladiator also took a minimal knock, grossing $1m over the weekend after two months on release. Ridley Scott's epic continues to edge nearer to UIP's last box office hit The World Is Not Enough which grossed $43.3m (£28.6m) and may even reach a mammoth $50m (£30m).

The other impressive weekend opening was the re-release of Bout De Souffle (Breathless) from Optimum Releasing. Jean-Luc Godard's masterpiece grossed $37,993 (£25,093) from five screens and won 13th place in the chart.