film news

Sacha Baron Cohen's outrageous comedy The Dictator has launched a military coup on the top of the UK box office - and knocked Avengers Assemble off its perch in the process.

The Dictator opened strongly on an estimated £4.97m, including two days of previews. Avengers Assemble finally vacated the top spot after four weeks, but Marvel/Disney won't be too troubled as the superhero movie has earned a huge £45m to date.

Elsewhere, Dark Shadows remained in fourth spot with a respectable £1.6m in takings, whilst American Pie: Reunion dropped to fourth with £1.4m. The critically-acclaimed Indonesian action thriller The Raid gatecrashed the top 5, its receipts of £438k the best debut for a foreign language film in the UK this year.