'Pride & Prejudice' prevails at London box office

Keira Knightley's film is a new entry at number one, while horror heavyweight 'Wolf Creek' isn't far behind.

Sep 20 2005

'Pride & Prejudice' brought some much needed class and sophistication to the London box office this weekend, usurping the likes of 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin' and 'Crash' from the top of the tree in its first week of release.

Joe Wright's period comedy-drama, the umpteenth adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel, grossed a whopping £231,101, no doubt due to a combination of Keira Knightley's increasing star power and curiosity to see how Matthew MacFadyen would fill Colin Firth's breeches as Mr Darcy.

Another new entry, 'Wolf Creek', debuted at number two, although the subject matter could not be more different to that of the Austen weepie.

Greg McLean's intense low-budget horror, a former Time Out film of the week, took an impressive £54,073 in just three days and thanks to a slew of positive reviews and good word of mouth, it should be with us for a while yet.

The rest of the Top 10 has a familiar feel, with indie favourites like 'Me and You and Everyone We Know' and the aforementioned 'Crash' rubbing shoulders with expensive studio fare such as 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'The Longest Yard', while the only other new entry is sappy romantic comedy 'Must Love Dogs'.

Indeed, the only incident of note further down the chart is that big-budget boxing biopic 'Cinderella Man' is already on the ropes after only a week on release, mirroring the box office pasting it took in the US earlier in the year.

Next week, expect George A Romero's 'Land of the Dead' to take no prisoners at the top, while it will be interesting to see how Guy Ritchie's 'Revolver' fares in the face of some truly appalling reviews.