Disney’s animated prequel scores $5.2m (£3.45m) debut to dethrone Despicable Me 2; Warner Bros’ Pacific Rim opens with $3.3m (£2.19m).

Despite graduating top of the UK box office and toppling Despicable Me 2, Monsters University suffered the effects of the sun over the weekend.

Disney’s animated prequel (the latest from animation giant Pixar) debuted with $5.2m (£3.45m) from its 525 sites, resulting in the second lowest opening of all time for a Pixar feature in the UK topping only Cars’ $4m (£2.7m).

For comparison, its predecessor Monsters Inc started its UK run with $13.8m (£9.2m), including $4m (£2.7m) in previews, before going on to take $57m (£37.9m), the third best Pixar performance in the UK.

The sunny weather undoubtably played its part and with the upcoming school holidays, there’s every chance to expect Monsters University to enjoy a healthy and long UK run.

For example, excluding previews, The Croods debuted with $5.5m (£3.5m) in March and went on to take $39m (£26.2m).

UNIVERSAL

Universal’s Despicable Me 2 has now overtaken Fox’s The Croods to become 2013’s top animated grosser.

The 3D sequel narrowly saw off Pacific Rim to chart second with $3.34m (£2.22m) and climb to a hugely impressive $40.8m (£27.1m) to date.

Given that it’s in its third weekend (fourth, if you include the weekend previews before its release), this weekend’s healthy performance despite the weather showcases that, for now, the Minions are proving to be a more attractive family prospect than Pixar’s Monsters.

WARNER BROS

Landing third on its debut was Warner Bros’ robots vs. monsters spectacle Pacific Rim.

The latest feature from Guillermo del Toro scored a solid, but not spectacular, $3.3m (£2.19m) opening from its 485 sites at an average of $6,811 (£4,522). A total of $1.8m (£1.2m) of the film’s gross came from 3D screens, including IMAX.

That result marks del Toro’s third best UK debut, behind Blade 2’s $3.8m (£2.5m) from 345 sites and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army’s $4.5m (£2.97m) from 464 sites. It’s worth noting that the latter was boosted by $1.7m (£1.1m) in previews.

Pacific Rim should enjoy a sturdy holdover this week without the arrival of any direct competition for the 12A audience.

Also for Warner Bros, Man of Steel edged closer to £30m and stands at $43.95m (£29.2m).

EONE

Posting the best holdover in the top 10, eOne’s Now You See Me added $1.7m (£1.1m) in its second weekend.

The heist thriller is now up to a strong $8.1m (£5.4m) after 12 days in play and, if it holds up this weekend as well, could well challenge The Incredible Hulk’s $12.5m (£8.3m) result to become director Louis Leterrier’s second-best UK performer.

FOX

In its second weekend, Fox’s The Internship added $599,000 (£397,644) for $3.4m (£2.3m) to date. At the same stage in its run, director Shawn Levy’s previous foray into comedy, Date Night, stood at $4m (£2.6m).

Also for Fox, animated film Epic has taken $19.5m (£12.9m) to date.

PARAMOUNT

Zombie action-thriller World War Z is now up to $19.9m (£13.2m) in the UK through Paramount, following a $577,000 (£382,972) weekend.

SONY

Apocalypse comedy This is the End added $272,000 (£181,000) in its third weekend through Sony and has now amassed $5.5m (£2.68m).

Also for Sony, Before Midnight and After Earth have grossed $1.03m (£684,000) and $9.4m (£6.2m), respectively.

PICTUREHOUSE

Following its much-publicised multi-platform release last week, Picturehouse’s A Field in England added $4,871 (£3,235) from 27 shows over its second weekend for $57,000 (£36,700) to date. Leading sites were Greenwich, Ritzy and ICA.

Click here for more Field in England figures.

CINEMALIVE

Also, event cinema specialists CinemaLive confirmed that André Rieu’s 2013 Maastricht Concert set the record for opening weekend gross for a music concert released into UK cinemas; it grossed more than £450,000 across 257 UK cinemas.The concert will now be shown in a further 400 cinemas across the world, including Canada, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and France.

Peter Skillman, Director & CEO of CinemaLive, said: “This is a real achievement, not only for CinemaLive but for music-led Event Cinema as a whole.  This proves that cinema is a viable revenue stream for artists, artist management and record companies. It’s no secret that the music industry is facing an uphill struggle as traditional modes of revenue all but disappear, but by embracing cinema, a new platform can be integrated into the artist’s overall offering.”

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week’s only saturation release belongs to Universal’s The World’s End, the much anticipated closer to Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy.

Koch Media’s The Frozen Ground and Artificial Eye’s EIFF opener Breathe In both receive wide releases, while Lionsgate’s Easy Money and Soda’s Wadjda are among the films receiving a limited release.