‘The Hunger Games’ wins UK box office

Jennifer Lawrence in 'The Hunger Games'

Jennifer Lawrence’s teen action movie The Hunger Games has topped the UK box office.

The movie, which co-stars Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, broke records in the US over the weekend with a $155 million haul.

The Hunger Games‘s UK opening gross, £4.9 million, easily outpaces the £2.5 million earned by Twilight in 2008. However, the fledgling franchise falls short of matching its three sequels New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn – Part 1, which all surpassed £10 million on their opening weekends.

Comedy 21 Jump Street and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel hold steady at numbers two and three respectively, while last week’s chart-topper The Devil Inside tumbles to number four.

We Bought a Zoo rounds out the top five.

Elsewhere, the only other new release to dent the top ten is Act of Valour. The US-produced war movie, which features active Marines among its cast, lands at number eight with £214,401.

The UK box office top ten figures in full:
1. (-) The Hunger Games – £4,900,177
2. (2) 21 Jump Street – £1,184,044
3. (3) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – £747,122
4. (1) The Devil Inside – £643,036
5. (5) We Bought a Zoo – £408,821
6. (6) Contraband – £315,666
7. (4) John Carter – £297,762
8. (-) Act of Valour – £262,935
9. (7) The Woman in Black – £214,401
10. (9) The Muppets – £168,381

Source: Rentrak