New Resident Evil beats competition U.S. box office top spot

Resident Evil: Retribution has shot down the competition to debut at the top of the U.S. box office.

The fifth installment of the zombie thriller series, based on the popular video game franchise and starring Milla Jovovich, blasted its way to number one, grossing £13.2 million.

Finding Nemo 3D, a reformatted version of the 2003 animated movie, swam its way into second place with £10.9 million in takings.

Last week's biggest hit, creepy horror The Possession, slipped to number three with £3.75 million.

Meanwhile, director Paul Thomas Anderson's new film The Master, which is loosely based on the story of late author and Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, has proved to be a big hit, becoming the strongest limited release debut in U.S. box office history.

The drama, which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as the leader of a controversial faith dubbed The Cause and Joaquin Phoenix as his conflicted protege, opened with an impressive £456,091 from just five locations in New York and Los Angeles, garnering an average of £91,218 per screen.