&lt;div class=&quot;track&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/85037?ns=guardian&amp;pageName=Families+don%27t+mind+the+gap+as+Johnny+English+and+The+Lion+King+are+rebo%3AArticle%3A1645894&amp;ch=Film&amp;c3=GU.co.uk&amp;c4=Film%2CCulture%2CComedy+%28Film+genre%29%2CAnimation+%28Film+genre%29%2CFilm+industry+%28business%29&amp;c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CComedy%2CFilm+Reviews&amp;c6=Charles+Gant&amp;c7=11-Oct-11&amp;c8=1645894&amp;c9=Article&amp;c10=Blogpost&amp;c11=Film&amp;c13=Box+office+analysis%3A+UK&amp;c25=Film+blog&amp;c30=content&amp;h2=GU%2FFilm%2FComedy&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;standfirst&quot;&gt;Eight years after the first film, audiences are flocking to see Rowan Atkinson&#039;s spy sequel; and Disney introduces an old friend to a new generation in 3D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;The winner&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;Conventional wisdom dictates that sequels can suffer at the box office when there is a significantly long gap between releases, but eight years after Johnny English, audiences have embraced the follow-up in huge numbers. Johnny English Reborn opened at the weekend with &pound;4.96m, which compares with a debut of &pound;3.44m for the original Rowan Atkinson spy caper in 2003. Another comparison: Mr Bean&#039;s Holiday began its run in 2007 with &pound;4.50m plus &pound;1.94m in previews. The Johnny English Reborn opening number is the best for any film since The Inbetweeners Movie arrived in mid-August.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;The runner-up&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With Johnny English clearly a hit with families, you might think there wouldn&#039;t be much room left in the market for a flick with kiddie appeal, but Disney proved otherwise. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142474/lion-king-3d&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;The Lion King 3D&lt;/a&gt; earned an impressive &pound;2.75m, suggesting a strong appeal to a generation that had seen the stage musical but perhaps not the film, and certainly not in cinemas. The number compares highly favourably with the 3D version of Toy Story, which opened with &pound;1.40m in October 2009, and even more so with Toy Story 2, which began its 3D re-release in January 2010 with a relatively lacklustre &pound;909,000. When you consider that audiences were exhibiting more excitement over the novelty of 3D two years ago, the success of The Lion King is all the more remarkable. And if Disney can achieve similar paydays with 3D conversion of all its cherished old-school animations, that will be a rich revenue stream for many years to come.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;The rock&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weather played a factor, but nevertheless credit is due to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142611/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy&lt;/a&gt; for a stonking hold on its fourth weekend of play, up from &pound;1.065m to &pound;1.067m. The third weekend had, of course, been hit by the gloriously sunny skies, dropping 49% from the previous frame, so we are now witnessing a degree of bounce back. Still, to achieve four straight weekends at &pound;1m plus is impressive: it&#039;s a feat not achieved by many of the summer&#039;s big hits, including Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Thor, X-Men: First Class and Captain America.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;The arthouse battle&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/141834/midnight-in-paris&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Midnight in Paris&lt;/a&gt;, Woody Allen has already achieved his biggest US box-office hit ($55m) as well as his only $100m-plus global success. And the film&#039;s &pound;496,000 UK debut at 153 screens certainly compares well with his last effort, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (opening of &pound;112,000 from 101 venues). However, it&#039;s not the biggest ever weekend number for a Woody picture. Vicky Cristina Barcelona debuted in February 2009 on just 34 screens, but expanded to 175 cinemas on its second weekend, grossing &pound;577,000. Vicky went on to cume a total of &pound;2.66m in the UK, a number that looks a highly achievable target for the new film &ndash; as long as audience word is positive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Midnight in Paris&#039;s main competitors were holdover titles such as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142036/drive&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Drive&lt;/a&gt; (down a slim 17%), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/139003/debt&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;The Debt&lt;/a&gt; (sliding 34%) and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/141827/melancholia&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Melancholia&lt;/a&gt; (off by 36%). Landing in 20th place is Paddy Considine&#039;s critically lauded &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/142849/tyrannosaur&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Tyrannosaur&lt;/a&gt;, with a soft &pound;70,000 from 37 screens, which rises to a healthier &pound;82,000 including previews. Segments of even the most discerning arthouse audience will resist a tough drama featuring domestic abuse. Owen Wilson meeting literary and artistic heroes in a prettily photographed Paris was always going to be an easier sell.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The last weekend before the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/london-film-festival-2011&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;London film festival&lt;/a&gt; is, in principle, a good date for an arthouse picture, since so many titles are holding off until after their festival premiere to release, creating a vacuum effect. Last year, The Social Network didn&#039;t play the festival, and instead opened in cinemas on day three of the event, facing minimal competition for upscale audiences. In 2008, Gomorrah did well, debuting the Friday before the festival, while I&#039;ve Loved You So Long opened late September and then gradually expanded during the festival&#039;s run. In 2007, Control performed nicely in the early October slot.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;The expat phenomenon&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ignored by, and probably invisible to, most regular media channels, $9m-budget 3D historical actioner Battle of Warsaw 1920 was targeted directly at the Polish community in the UK, grossing a healthy &pound;88,000 from 21 Cineworld screens, for a site average (&pound;4,176) that was bettered only by Johnny English Reborn and The Lion King 3D, which both benefited from some multiple-screen occupancy at plexes. The Jerzy Hoffman-directed title does not appear on the Film Distributors&#039; Association&#039;s website as a 7 October release, was not screened to UK newspaper critics at the weekly national press shows, and was consequently not reviewed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;The future&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to the success of the two new big family hits, UK box office is an impressive 99% up on the previous, unseasonally sunny, weekend, and also 62% up on the equivalent frame from 2010, when new releases Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Life As We Know It and The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud nabbed the top three spots in the chart. Several new commercial-seeming offerings arrive this week, although it&#039;s far from certain any will deliver a knockout punch. Disney has current US box-office champ &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/143302/real-steel&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Real Steel&lt;/a&gt;, featuring Hugh Jackman, a cute kid and boxing robots. Warners has Dolphin Tale, a US chart-topper in September. Paramount has a remake of Footloose, targeting tweens and teens. And the real unknown quantity is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/143595/three-musketeers&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;The Three Musketeers&lt;/a&gt;, made to a Hollywood scale but independently financed, from director Paul WS Anderson (Resident Evil). With a strongly British cast and sensibility, the UK should be a solid territory for the swashbuckler.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Top 10 films&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. &lt;/strong&gt;Johnny English Reborn, &pound;4,965,000 from 524 sites (New)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2.&lt;/strong&gt; The Lion King 3D, &pound;2,746,763 from 414 sites (New)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. &lt;/strong&gt;Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, &pound;1,066,742 from 468 sites. Total: &pound;11,100,553&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. &lt;/strong&gt;Abduction, &pound;512,630 from 374 sites. Total: &pound;1,815,910&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. &lt;/strong&gt;Don&#039;t Be Afraid of the Dark, &pound;495,734 from 229 sites (New)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6.&lt;/strong&gt; Midnight in Paris, &pound;495,709 from 153 sites (New)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;7. &lt;/strong&gt;Crazy Stupid Love, &pound;367,723 from 282 sites. Total: &pound;2,785,635&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;8.&lt;/strong&gt; Drive, &pound;304,163 from 159 sites. Total: &pound;2,026,387&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;9.&lt;/strong&gt; The Inbetweeners Movie, &pound;285,264 from 265 sites. Total: &pound;44,590,312&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;10.&lt;/strong&gt; The Debt, &pound;278,060 from 320 sites. Total: &pound;1,106,536&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Other openers&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rascals, &pound;108,681 from 48 screens (+ &pound;9,298 previews)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Battle of Warsaw 1920, &pound;87,688 from 21 screens&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tyrannosaur, &pound;69,739 from 37 screens (+ &pound;12,051 previews)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perfect Sense, &pound;21,675 from 60 screens&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yaar Annmulle, &pound;9,126 from 8 screens&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vedi, &pound;5,401 from 6 screens&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/143470&quot; title=&quot;&quot;&gt;Four Days Inside Guant&aacute;namo&lt;/a&gt;, &pound;196 from 1 screen&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;7 Lives, 6 screens, no figures available&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;related&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/comedy&quot;&gt;Comedy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/animation&quot;&gt;Animation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/film-industry&quot;&gt;Film industry&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;author&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charles-gant&quot;&gt;Charles Gant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;terms&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk&quot;&gt;guardian.co.uk&lt;/a&gt; &amp;copy; 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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