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Nanny McPhee sends Alice in Wonderland to the naughty step at the UK box office
In a fight for family film faces, Emma Thompson's Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang joined previews of How to Train Your Dragon in knocking off Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland from the top UK box office spot

Easter is still a few days away, but the contest for the seasonal family box office is already well under way. Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang opened on more than 500 screens, knocking off Alice in Wonderland from the top spot in its fourth weekend of play. But it was a close-run thing, Nanny's £2.59m comparing with Alice's £2.50m. Both films might have been stronger had they not faced additional competition on Saturday and Sunday from paid previews of DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon.

The Nanny McPhee result compares with an almost-identical opening of £2.60m for the original film in 2005. Given the brand recognition established by the original film, you would maybe expect a stronger opening for the sequel, although most of the child audience that watched five years ago would now be too old this time around. The Big Bang is, to a considerable degree, addressing a whole new audience.
Alice in Wonderland saw the biggest fall of its run so far – down 48% – thanks to the increased competition for family films, and a direct competitor for 3D screens in the shape of How to Train Your Dragon.
The breakthrough
Films featuring American football, baseball and basketball have tended to struggle in the UK, but the first of those sports saw its first £1m-plus opening weekend with the arrival of The Blind Side. Of course, the film is also the inspirational true story of a rich white lady adopting a homeless black teen (who goes on to be an NFL pro), and American football didn't form part of the local marketing message. The Blind Side's opening of £1.31m compares with £401,000 for Any Given Sunday, £277,000 for Remember the Titans and £30,000 for Friday Night Lights.
The Blind Side star Sandra Bullock's last hit, The Proposal, opened last July with £3.25m, but that comparison is hardly fair, as the actress is more commercially potent in romantic comedies – not that this helped recent flop All About Steve. A more pertinent comparison might be with Julia Roberts's inspirational true story Erin Brockovich, which debuted in 2000 with £1.61m.
The losers
With such a lot of paid-preview activity in the market, many films temporarily lost screens on Saturday and Sunday. This may excuse some of the eyewatering plunges that occurred. Hachi: A Dog's Tale fell 82%; Old Dogs dropped 85%; and it's nearly all over for the quirky Britcom My Last Five Girlfriends, with a 92% contraction.
Three weeks ago, this column reported that the Uma Thurman film Motherhood had opened with £88 from one screen – a misfiring platform showcase three days in advance of its DVD release. The fact that the film sold just one ticket on Sunday, grossing £9 on that day, helped the story snowball, culminating in TV news and extensive newspaper coverage, plus attention from US commentators such as Roger Ebert.
The industry view that the Motherhood theatrical failure drew disproportionate media attention may be validated by the opening result this weekend for I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. This laddish comedy likewise opened with one showtime per day at a single London cinema, in advance of an imminent DVD release (on 19 April) – in this instance targeting The Hangover audience. Friday night was a private screening for competition winners only, and the figure we have for the rest of the weekend is £54.
The plucky underdog
It may not have received much attention from the critics, but the British urban youth flick Shank did more than respectable business, with an opening of £279,000 from 86 screens. Admittedly not in the league of Noel Clarke's Adulthood – which debuted in June 2008 with £1.2m – Shank's figure is nevertheless well ahead of Kidulthood's opening of £100,000 from 41 screens, back in March 2006. The result reflects the degree to which Clarke's films have created an identifiable market for distributors to tap into. Shank's cast includes Adam Deacon, from both Kidulthood and Adulthood, and arrives courtesy of Kidulthood distributor Revolver, setting a record opening for the company.
The future
All four weekends in March were up on their 2009 equivalents, by 35%, 42%, 71% and now this latest one by 19%. That last number would have been a fair bit bigger had the preview figures for Kick-Ass and How to Train Your Dragon been added to the weekend's tally, but those £2m takings will be held over and included next time. April will struggle to be equivalently up on 2009, but should get off to a good start with Kick-Ass, Dragon, Clash of the Titans and the Robert Pattinson romantic drama Remember Me. Cinemagoers will not be short of commercially appealing titles to choose from over the Easter holiday.
UK top 10
1. Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, £2,586,760 from 512 sites (New)
2. Alice in Wonderland, £2,496,673 from 510 sites. Total: £34,817,788
3. The Blind Side, £1,313,317 from 371 sites (New)
4. Shutter Island, £1,146,259 from 418 sites. Total: £7,677,255
5. Bounty Hunter, £994,656 from 393 sites. Total: £3,909,655
6. Green Zone, £465,811 from 345 sites. Total: £4,951,818
7. The Spy Next Door, £393,604 from 330 sites. Total: £1,235,494
8. I Love You Phillip Morris, £369,460 from 329 sites. Total: £1,906,927
9. Shank, £278,906 from 86 sites (New)
10. Avatar, £224,840 from 170 sites. Total: £91,053,002
How the other openers did
Perrier's Bounty, 90 screens, £107,652
Lourdes, 18 screens, £39,511
Hum Tum Aur Ghost, 13 screens, £32,298
No One Knows About Persian Cats, eight screens, £7,336
Angadi Theru, 15 screens, £6,446
Lad Gaya Pecha, five screens, £5,371
Lion's Den, five screens, £4,856
Cok Filim Hareketler Bunlar, two screens, £4,831
Nightwatching, one screen, £4,467
Storm, four screens, £1,779
In the Land of the Free… six screens, £1,154
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, one screen, £54

SOURCE:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/mar/30/uk-box-office-nanny-mcphee