'Lady in the Water' tanks in town

M Night Shyamalan's new one fails to make much of a dent on the London chart.

Aug 16 2006

The big news on the London chart this week is the hopeless numbers that greet the new M Night Shyamalan's 'Lady in the Water'.

A Night film is usually a licence to print money, with 'The Sixth Sense', 'Unbreakable', 'Signs' and 'The Village' all grossing vast sums in the big smoke.

However, following brutal reviews across the board, the writer director's so-called 'bedtime story' limped into the chart at number nine, managing just $42,776 from 13 screens.

That meant that 'Miami Vice' continued to rule the roost at the top of the chart, taking £147,439 from 22 screens and easily seeing off the attempted roundhouse from Jack Black wrestling pic 'Nacho Libre', which debuted at number two.

The other big surprise of the week was 'Kabhi Alvidi Na Kehna' coming straight in at number four. The musical romance, which is India's most expensive Hindi film to date, took a whopping £68,690 from just six screens (although that figure includes £12,903 of previews).

Last but not least, 'Monster House' debuted at number seven, a good but not great debut for a fantastic film that deserves better. So if you are in any doubt as to what to take the kids to this weekend, make sure it's this hugely entertaining animated tale

Next week, expect 'A Scanner Darkly' and 'Harsh Times' to do well, though the 'Snakes on a Plane' should devour everything in their path.

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