'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' tops the London box office

A huge opening weekend ensures that the Roald Dahl adaptation is one of the summer's biggest hits.

Aug  3 2005

'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' charmed its way to the top of the London box office this weekend, pulling in a whopping £444,696 from 17 screens.

That puts the film well ahead of 'Batman Begins' and 'Mr & Mrs Smith' and trailing only 'War of the Worlds' and 'Revenge of the Sith' in terms of opening hauls this summer.

Meanwhile, surprise hit 'Wedding Crashers' clings on to the second spot for the third week straight, and unlike 'Fantastic Four' (which drops from one to three) the 'Crashers' success shows no signs of abating just yet.

Below them, 'Madagascar' and 'War of the Worlds' both fall to four and five respectively, while voodoo chiller 'The Skeleton Key' is a new entry at number six.

The only other new film is French biopic 'The Last Mitterrand', which debuts at number nine with a very impressive £15,390 from just four screens, while 'Batman Begins', 'Silver City' and 'The Descent' all take a tumble and look very much like they will soon drop out of the chart.

Next week, expect 'Herbie: Fully Loaded' and 'The Perfect Catch' to do well, although neither film is likely to usurp Willy and his oompas from the top.