TIM BURTON - SWEENEY TODD SLASHES ITS WAY TO TOP OF UK BOX OFFICE

SWEENEY TODD SLASHES ITS WAY TO TOP OF UK BOX OFFICE

Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has carved a bloodthirsty path to the top of the UK box office after its opening weekend.

The gore-drenched musical, an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's famed stage show, took £4.5 million from its first three days on release to push last week's number one, Alien vs Predator: Requiem, into second place.

With Johnny Depp in the lead role, the Oscar-nominated movie sees the Pirates of the Caribbean star as barber Benjamin Barker, returning to London after years in unjust exile, consumed with vengeance and with violent plans to exact bloody revenge.

After re-opening his barber's shop above Mrs Lovett's (Helena Bonham Carter), pie store, 'the best pies in London' are soon filling the capital's streets thanks to the lethal flicks of Sweeney's razor.

No Country For Old Men, the Coen brothers' acclaimed adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel, has fallen to fourth position, while the only other new entry in the chart, In The Valley of Elah, made its debut in tenth position.

The top ten films at the UK box office are: (Last's week position in brackets)

1 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - £4,512,422 (-)
2 Alien vs Predator: Requiem - £951,479 (1)
3 PS I Love You - £921,548 (3)
4 No Country For Old Men - £825,848 (2)
5 St Trinian's - £674,336 (6)
6 I Am Legend - £645,826 (4)
7 Alvin And The Chipmunks - £610,975 (7)
8 Charlie Wilson's War - £494,639 (5)
9 Enchanted - £451,162 (8)
10 In The Valley of Elah - £344,190 (-)