'Batman Begins' reigns supreme at London box office

While Stephen Chow's brilliant 'Kung Fu Hustle' punches above its weight at number three.

Jun 28 2005

Stephen Chow took on several blockbusters at the top of the London film chart this weekend, and while he was no match for either Batman or the Smiths, the 'Kung Fu Hustle' writer/director/star nevertheless whopped the behinds of two very big names.

So while Mr Chow was unable to usurp the place of either 'Batman Begins' or 'Mr and Mrs Smith' at numbers one and two, he nevertheless beat both 'Sin City' and 'Revenge of the Sith' into submission, confining them to places four and five with ease.

Taking an impressive £59,923 from 15 screens, the success of the former Time Out film of the week proves that martial arts is still a genre to be reckoned with, especially when done with the vim and vigour of Chow's chop-socky fu-fest.

Elsewhere, there's some movement at the lower end of the chart, with rom-com 'A Lot Like Love', supernatural Bollywood epic 'Paheli' and tense psychological drama 'In My Father's Den' entering at places seven, eight and ten respectively.

Expect a proper shake-up to occur at the top next week, when even Chow will struggle to defeat the Spielberg and Cruise behemoth that is 'War of the Worlds'.