Ted gets off to an absolute stormer as he weather the Bat and the sports to claim an impressive number 1.

1. Ted (509 sites) W/E: £9,330,700 NEW (Includes W/Th previews)

2. The Dark Knight Rises (567) W/E: £4,290,605 Total: £40,846,913

3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (463) W/E: £1,537,178 NEW

4. Ice Age 4: Continental Drift (550) W/E: £1,213,388 Total: £24,671,603

5. Dr Seuss’ The Lorax (512) W/E:£856,003 Total: £4,648,423

6. Brave (143) W/E: £820,084 from 143 sites NEW (Ireland/Scotland only)

7. The Amazing Spider-Man (396) W/E: £392,715 Total: £24,937,213

8. Magic Mike (400) W/E: £288,189 Total: £7,638,076

9. Mirror Mirror (187) W/E: £60,769 Total: £7,578,055

10. Searching for Sugar Man (43) £42,416 Total: £163,857

Source: The Guardian/Screen Daily

I’d been saying in this column for a few weeks now that Ted was a massive dark horse coming on the horizon, offering adult-rated laughs which would get those desperate for this year’s Hangover something to laugh about and quote relentlessly. This translated into an intimidating opening which, even taking out the £3.4 million earned in previews, would still have handily opened at the number one spot. Universal had been held lacking with their summer box office competition but with The Lorax last week and Ted this, they have two films with solid numbers adding to their only other real “success” over the last few months, American Pie: Reunion. The good news for Ted over the next few weeks is that while there’s a fair bit coming out, there are no major comedies to rob its audience until The Watch towards the end of the month, by which time Ted should have tidily made over £20 million to become one of the big boys of summer. Which for a 15-rated film about a swearing bear is pretty incredible.

After two weeks at the top, The Dark Knight Rises takes up a position at number 2 which it will look to hold this coming weekend as well, and it’s hard to feel too bad for the film considering its still out pacing Marvel Avengers Assemble by just over half a million pounds if you compare their hauls at the same amount of days. I’m thinking this outpacing may not last though, while MAA had a solid few weeks with little of note to challenge it, TDKR only faces more competition as two other huge films, The Bourne Legacy and Expendables 2 hit and this will only take revenue, and screen counts, down. It’s still looking at being the number two dog for the summer which ain’t too shabby but still, when Summer 2012 is looked at on, there’s only one film which will be talked about and that’s going to be Marvel’s.

Contrasting pretty drastically with its US performance over the last weekend, the third part of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, this one called Dog Days, actually scored the highest opening of any of these films thus far in the UK, whereas in the US it scored the lowest debut and by a fair margin. Kids are being well catered for this summer though it does feel like there aren’t quite as many films aimed for the little ones as there have been in previous years, something I think a Dreamworks-shaped hole could be attributable for as they unleash Madagascar 3 a solid four months after the US when it’s released in time for October half-term. As a tangent, I find it interesting that kids films are that one field where the idea of worldwide release dates is still largely ignored. Pixar’s Up! faced a similar delay back in 2009 and indeed The Lorax took about as long to reach our screens. I understand school holidays are hot property, but it does feel like feast or famine for kids’ films.

Ice Age 4 continues an impressive run as it leapfrogs the aformentioned Lorax to take fourth spot this week with a drop of less than 20% which speaks to the continuing  summer holidays allowing for better grosses. It’s got another weekend before Brave takes away some of its screens as it hits all over the UK, but that film is a bit of a blind spot for me. It did well in the US but it still didn’t feel like it truly broke out. Its performance is one I’m very interested in having a look at in a couple of weeks for sure. In its second official week, The Lorax drops around a third for a take of just under £5 million. which I think will be looked at as solid but maybe a slightly disappointing go thus far.

It was just mentioned, but Brave does actually chart this week as it gets an early release in Scotland and Ireland where its more Celtic leanings will likely resonate, though considering the film hits with only a few weeks of the holidays to go in the rest of the UK on Monday, it’s a surprise it wasn’t given a slightly earlier berth. Still, it will be a lot fresher than most of its competition when it does hit properly.

The rest of the chart sees little movement of note though Mirror Mirror apes Pirates! last week by charting on the back of cheap kids showings, a phenomena which always manages to give films a second life even if they earn next to bugger all with it really, thanks to the weak competition towards the bottom end of the chart. On a personal note, it’s great to see the marvelous Searching for Sugar Man hit the Ten for a second week in a row.

This Friday sees the last truly slow release week we will have for a while as only Step Up 4: Miami Heat and Jo Nesbo’s Jackpot hoping to make some sort of impression for Universal and Metrodome respectively, though StudioCanal may get lucky with the “interesting” looking sci-fi The Dinosaur Project, while the Monday after sees more competition which means this coming weekend should see little change of note for the chart before more upheaval kicks in the week after.