'Ice Age 2' wins the Easter box office battle

'The Meltdown' holds on to the top spot in London, while 'V for Vendetta' returns to the chart.

Apr 19 2006

'Ice Age 2: The Meltdown' continued to reign at the top of the London charts over the Easter weekend, grossing £136,572 from 16 screens.

And having been assured by my young nieces Anna and Niamh that the film is both 'very good', and 'very funny', I'm sure this kiddie favourite will hang around at the top for the foreseeable future.

Spike Lee's 'Inside Man' also continues to do good business, holding onto the number two spot after four weeks on release.

Elsewhere there were deeply average debuts for three woeful new flicks in the shape of humourless spoof 'Scary Movie 4', dance drama 'Take the Lead' and fright-free horror flick 'An American Haunting'.

Indeed, the only interesting occurance further down the chart is the re-entry of 'V For Vendetta' at number seven, no doubt buoyed by the film's IMAX release.

Next week, critically acclaimed dance doc 'Ballets Russes', Canadian coming-of-age drama 'C.R.A.Z.Y.' and Time Out film of the week 'U-Carmen eKhayelitsha' are all released, though I've got a feeling that Niamh and Anna will shun them all in favour of a second screening of 'Ice Age 2'.