1. Skyfall (587 sites) W/E: £20,180,369 NEW

2. Madagascar 3 (541) W/E: £2,803,873 Total: £10,546,233

3. Taken 2 (443) W/E: £1,004,463 Total £20,821,143

4. Paranormal Activity 4 (414) W/E: £792,342 Total: £4,328,481

5. Hotel Transylvania (473) W/E: £782,340 Total: £4,647,278

6. Sinister (309) W/E: £310,408 Total: £5,858,139

7. Frankenweenie (407) W/E: £274,780 Total: £1,437,309

8. Looper (278) W/E: £221,768 Total: £9,706,737

9. Beasts of the Southern Wild (44) W/E: £117,971 Total: £412,383

10. Ice Age 4 (193) W/E: £102,952 Total: £29,778,980

Source: Screen Daily. Note: There do not appear to be any £ gross charts as of yet, I have translated the Screen Daily $ amounts to £ using their yardstick of $1 = £0.6226

Blimey charlie.

There’s little to say other than that really, based on this past weekend’s Box Office as Skyfall shatters the expectations of all but the most starry eyed observers (I tweeted out an £18 million prediction myself) with an opening which stands as the largest 2D opening of all time. It may not beat Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 but considering how inflated that film’s opening would have been by 3D surcharges, I think Skyfall is the real winner here with the largest ever Saturday attendance also pointing to a genuine monster of a debut. Round-the-clock showtimes and weather which is certainly getting chillier helped, but so did omnipresent marketing and almost universal acclaim, which means that at 50, on-screen Bond is a man decades younger than his years. Expect a strong hold this coming weekend too as this week’s offerings are much lower-key and repeat business will surely be a factor.

Skyfall was of course the dominant party but it wasn’t completely bad news for the competitors. Offering younger viewers a more palatable option saw Madagascar 3 hold up well, with an around 20% drop, which looks much better when you consider the days of previews factored into last weekend’s results. And with over £10 million taken already, this is going to be hanging around for an absolute age, especially considering that half-term is currently upon us, expect a highly inflated lifetime total this time next week.

Crossing £20 million is the sequel no critics like as Taken 2 drops pretty harshly, but still manages to take a cool million. However, impressing far less is Paranormal Activity 4 which hasn’t managed to keep interest in the way I thought it would with a total which is going to struggle to not be seen as a bit of a disappointment, especially with a drop of nearly 70% week-on-week, though again it had previews last week. While yes, these things cost relative peanuts to make but when you compare against previous entries, it’s not going to look too great with PA1 the lowest grosser so far at just over £10 million for its entire run, something PA4 is going to struggle to get close to.

Spookiness is holding well though with Hotel Transylvania, which is turning into one of the bigger kids hits of this season with its bland looking charms attracting parents over the black and white, and somewhat challenging, Frankenweenie which takes a percentage drop nearly as big as PA4 in its second week. Sinister drops a fairly surprising amount of over 50% also, though I’m expecting this to uptick slightly in midweek this week, and while PA4 may beat it in lifetime total, Momentum will be pleased with what they’ve managed to earn from this one.

Finishing us for the week, Looper takes a not unexpected huge drop with a loss of screens and Skyfall, making this chart stalwart, start to look a bit long in the tooth though again E-One will be pleased with their total, Beasts of the Southern Wild (FINALLY coming to a cinema close to me this weekend) expands and has the 2nd best drop in the chart as a result, and the half-term holidays see Ice Age 4 make a re-appearance after taking a shitton of money over the Summer.

As I said earlier, this coming week sees some lower key fare hitting with Paramount hoping for half-term coin from Fun Size which opened this past Monday, Lionsgate give us “A 3D THRILL RIDE INTO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” with Silent Hill: Revelation, StudioCanal will be hoping to follow the recent arthouse success of Beasts with the highly acclaimed Rust & Bone, Universal give sex comedy For A Good Time, Call a go and Entertainment start an exclusive 2-week run of The Master out in 70mm at the Odeon West End, which is sure to have the best per-screen average in the country, but will it chart….