Oz The Great And Powerful - Oz The Great And Powerful Tops U.k. Box Office

Sam Raimi's The Wizard of Oz prequel easily held off competition from Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects, which debuted in second place with $1.35 million (£905,000).

Disney's animated hit Wreck-It Ralph clung onto third position in its fifth week on U.K. release with takings of $1.1 million (£740,000), ahead of Jennifer Lopez and Jason Statham's latest offering Parker, which debuted with a takings of $849,000 (£568,000).

Guillermo Del Torro's horror film Mama was obviously too scary for some audiences as it only took $786,459 (£526,000) after three weeks on release, falling into fifth position.