New Moon Takes £11.6 Million In The UK

As expected, New Moon has got off to a flying start in the UK, taking £11.68 million on its opening weekend, proving that Twilight fever isn't just the preserve of the US. The number is 4.6 times as much as the £2.51 million Twilight made on its first weekend last year, and shows just how much of a phenomenon the franchise has become in the past year.

In fact, it's more in three days than Twilight made in its entire theatrical run, and marks the second highest debut of 2009, just behind Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It even beats out the first Friday-Sunday figures of many major blockbusters, including The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones 4 and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End, although time will tell whether New Moon has the staying power at the box office that those films did.

The film's success also ensured the UK box office had its biggest weekend of the year, helped by strong holdover numbers from 2012 and A Christmas Carol.

The only other two new films to hit the top 10 were A Serious Man and The Informant. The Coen Brothers' low-key Serious Man made a decent £321,000 from only 50 screens (compared to 500 for New Moon), while Steven Soderbergh's The Informant took a far less impressive £180,000 from 116 cinemas. It's particularly surprising considering A Serious Man has no famous faces, while The Informant, which was generally well received, stars Matt Damon.

Take a look below for the full UK top 10 at the box office for the weekend of November 20th-22nd.