Wednesday,
November
08,
2006
London,
Nov
8
(Reuters)
Fresh
from
taking
the
US
box
office
by
storm,
Sacha
Baron
Cohen's
Borat
set
one
of
the
highest
tallies
this
year
for
an
opening
weekend
in
Britain,
taking
6.2
million
pounds,
according
to
Screen
International.
That
figure
includes
previews
and
is
well
short
of
blockbusters
like
Harry
Potter
and
Star
Wars
but
is
still
two
or
three
times
the
average
UK
figure
for
a
film
coming
straight
in
at
No
1.
The
story
of
the
intrepid
Kazakhstan
journalist's
travels
in
the
United
States
stunned
industry
observers
by
securing
double
its
estimated
take
in
the
US
at
the
weekend.
In
Britain,
it
knocked
blood-spattered
horror
flick
Saw
III
into
second
place.
The
latest
in
the
gruesome
Saw
series
had
gone
straight
to
the
top
of
the
box
office
charts
last
weekend
with
a
take
of
2.5
million
pounds.
At
No
3
was
dance-based
romantic
drama
Step
Up
while
down
one
place
at
four
was
director
Martin
Scorsese's
mob
movie
The
Departed,
with
Leonardo
di
Caprio
and
Jack
Nicholson.
Fifth,
unchanged,
was
Meryl
Streep's
acclaimed
portrayal
of
a
ruthless
New
York
magazine
editor
in
The
Devil
Wears
Prada.
Sixth,
down
two
places
was
animated
comedy
Open
Season,
about
a
bear
and
a
mule
deer
joining
forces
against
hunters,
while
at
seven,
down
one,
was
another
animated
animal
comedy
Barnyard.
New
at
eight
was
Sixty-six,
a
comedy
with
Helena
Bonham
Carter
about
a
scheduling
clash
between
a
boy's
barmitzvah
and
the
1966
World
Cup
final.
Ninth
down
from
eight
was
the
film
version
of
Alan
Bennett's
play
about
inspirational
teaching,
''The
History
Boys.''
Making
its
debut
at
10
was
Little
Children,
starring
Kate
Winslet
in
the
film
version
of
Tom
Perrotta's
novel
about
adultery
in
suburbia.
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