District 9 takes over UK

2009-09-08 22:19

London - Acclaimed sci-fi movie District 9 topped the British box office over the weekend, Screen International said on Tuesday.

The story of a malnourished alien race transferred to a Johannesburg township, with its inescapable apartheid-era echoes, earned £2.2m and knocked horror movie The Final Destination down into second place.

The week's other newcomer, romantic boy-meets-girl comedy (500) days of Summer, came in at three.

Quentin Tarantino's World War Two revenge film Inglourious Basterds was down two places at four while Funny People, with Adam Sandler as a comedian learning to live with cancer, slipped from three to five.

Aliens in the Attic, featuring kids fighting off knee-high invaders, slipped a place to six.

Former chart-topper The Time Traveller's Wife was down at seven from four, just above the animated guinea pigs of G-Force who fell one place to eighth.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was down three places at nine, its total take in the eight weeks since its UK release now standing at £50.2m.

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's flashback movie Broken Embrace, starring Penelope Cruz, was unchanged at No 10.

- Reuters