Stephen Fry's directorial debut Bright Young Things met with a mixed reception from critics in the UK - but its box office launch reflected the faith distributor Icon Film Distribution put in the film.

The comedy-drama, based on the novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, took eighth place with a $545,488 (£327,293). Bright Young Things was put out on a fairly wide 192 sites and managed a solid $2,841 location average.

While the averages would no doubt have looked more impressive had the film received the sort of limited 50-80 print release many UK-produced films tend to receive, the push Icon put behind the film through advertising and going wide was rewarded.

Unsurprisingly the film took $154,188 (£92,513) from 18 screens in London's West End for an excellent average of $8,566.

The success comes a week after Warner Bros saw a solid return from its wide release of Young Adam suggesting that UK audiences for such fare are not limited to arthouses in London and the big cities.

Young Adam star Ewan McGregor featured in another new release this week, 20th Century Fox's Down With Love. While the $998,412 (£599,047) from 298 sites ($3,350 average) might be considered disappointing for the distributor it is still a relatively positive sign of McGregor and Renee Zellweger's star-pull in the UK given the weak reviews and dismal US performance ($20.3m).

Meanwhile horror title Freddy Vs Jason re-entered the UK/Ireland top 20 after launching in 40 sites in the Republic Of Ireland. Released through Abbey Films for Entertainment Film Distributors in Ireland the film claimed a good fifth position in the Ireland only chart with $82,051 (Euro 70,564).