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Kenneth Branagh’s Norse epic hammers the competition while latest Fast & Furious instalment shows no sign of slowing down The winner To say that Marvel’s film division had a lot riding on the success of its Thor movie would be an understatement. The company and distribution partner Paramount had a hit franchise in Iron Man, but would audiences show up for a Kenneth Branagh action sci-fi about a hammer-wielding alien god starring Jim Kirk’s dad from the Star Trek reboot (Chris Hemsworth)? And if they didn’t, where would that leave the forthcoming Captain America picture, next year’s Avengers team-up, and more besides? In the UK and elsewhere, Marvel and Paramount have plenty to be happy about. Thor debuted with £5.45m, including £2.34m from three days of previews. Add in bank holiday Monday, and that tally rises to £6.44m. That’s in a similar ballpark to Iron Man three years ago, which opened on the same May bank holiday weekend with £5.47m including previews of £667,000, and just over £7m including the Monday. Iron Man 2, which as a sequel benefited from a built-in audience, began its run exactly a year ago with £7.66m, including £877,000 in previews, and £9.54m including the May Day Monday holiday. Thor isn’t matching those giddy heights, especially when you consider the boost from its aggressive preview strategy and the price premium on 3D tickets, but given the relative obscurity of the character, the numbers are good enough. The runner-up Fast & Furious movies typically live up to their moniker, screaming out of the starting grid before quickly hitting the speed bumps. Two years ago, for example, the fourth film opened with £4.93m and then fell 61% on the second weekend. This time, the instalment is braking less rapidly. Fast & Furious 5 fell a relatively modest 36%, delivering an 11-day total of £11.16m, and £11.94m including the Monday holiday. £12m in 12 days is pretty good going for a film that isn’t based on a famous comic book or literary-blockbuster character. When Neal Moritz produced the first film in the series eight years ago, based on a 1998 Vibe magazine article by Ken Li, “Racer X”, he presumably had no inkling how much future value he was creating for himself and backers Universal. The total dominance of Thor and Fast & Furious 5 at UK cinemas currently can be gauged by looking at the top 100 engagements chart. Starting with Thor at the Vue Westfield, and ending with F&F5 at Cineworld West India Quay, the two films occupy an astonishing 98 positions of that chart, and the whole of the top 90. Only Insidious (Cineworld Sheffield, 91st place) and Rio (Vue Dublin, 96th), prevent a Thor/F&F5 top 100 clean sweep. The chasing pack Following its premiere at the Toronto film festival last September, the release of horror flick Insidious has been considered and patient. Opting to wait out the whole of the winter/spring awards season and the busy Christmas period, and then sensibly giving Scream 4 a two-week berth, UK distributor Momentum chose late April as a propitious date, counter-programming against Thor. Selling points included the writer (Leigh Wannell) and director (James Wan) of Saw, with Paranormal Activity’s Oren Peli among the producer credits. Given Insidious’s status as a fresh property, the opening numbers are solid. The film took £1.44m over the three-day weekend, and £1.84m including holiday Monday. That’s nowhere close to Paranormal Activity, which debuted with £3.59m on the back of massive hype in November 2009, but puts it in the same category as recent mid-range hits such as Source Code (£1.31m), The Adjustment Bureau (£1.40m) and Unknown (£1.36m). Since it’s horror, Insidious is likely to suffer quicker burnout. Landing outside the top 10, indie comedy Cedar Rapids is a disappointment for 20th Century Fox. The company failed to position the film as a worthy successor to much-loved Fox Searchlight comedy hits such as Juno, Sideways and Little Miss Sunshine, resulting in a weak debut of £146,000 from an optimistic 180 screens, and £189,000 including Monday. Also disappointing is The Veteran, starring Toby Kebbell and Brian Cox. Not really convincing as an arthouse title, The Veteran suggested itself as a small-scale genre picture, which is always a tricky sell. An opening of £11,000 from 45 screens resulted – or £13,000 including Monday. Much healthier was French flick Farewell, with a decent £40,000 from 30 sites, rising to £52,000 including Monday. The 3D docs Distributor CinemaNX can justifiably claim that its motorbike racing documentary TT3D: Closer to the Edge is winning the battle for audience word of mouth. Over the four-day weekend, the film took more box-office than the equivalent period the previous week (£156,000 vs £149,000). Thanks to an aggressive preview strategy, the film has now grossed £600,000 after two weekends of play. TT3D looks well placed to match non-fiction hits such as Man on Wire (£879,000), An Inconvenient Truth (£936,000) and Buena Vista Social Club (£955,000), as long as it can hold its screens. Meanwhile, fellow 3D doc Pina also held up well, reaching £275,000 after two weekends on release. Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams has now reached £525,000. The future Overall the market is a healthy 21% up on the previous weekend and a slim 6% down on the equivalent 2010 frame, when Iron Man 2 kicked plenty of new life into the box-office. After a frankly dismal March and April, UK cinemas are recovering, and looking forward to Pirates of the Caribbean on 18 May. There are still a couple of weekends to get through, but Water for Elephants, starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon, opens today, well-placed to pick up audiences not effectively served by Thor and Fast & Furious 5. It’s joined on Friday by Hanna, starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett; Something Borrowed, with Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin; and Priest, with Paul Bettany. Everywhere & Nowhere, from Kidulthood director Menhaj Huda, will be hoping to match the successes of recent British urban hits. Cast includes the talismanic Adam Deacon, from Kidulthood, Adulthood and Anuvahood. Top 10 films 1. Thor, £5,449,300 from 500 sites (New) 2. Fast & Furious 5: £2,609,244 from 452 sites. Total: £11,163,953 3. Insidious, £1,441,292 from 325 sites (New) 4. Rio, £801,102 from 501 sites. Total: £9,779,770 5. Arthur, £682,187 from 434 sites. Total: £2,477,285 6. Scream 4, £396,190 from 377 sites. Total: £5,096,897 7. Hop, £314,829 from 461 sites. Total: £6,727,678 8. Beastly, £210,974 from 249 sites. Total: £1,071,105 9. Source Code, £196,978 from 212 sites. Total: £5,707,782 10. Red Riding Hood, £169,325 from 317 sites. Total: £2,469,669 Other openers Cedar Rapids, £146,062 from 180 screens Farewell, £40,272 from 30 screens Chalo Dilli, £25,260 from 17 screens The Veteran, £10,694 from 45 screens Battleship Potemkin, £4,078 from 4 screens Tracker, £1,961 from 7 screens Vaanam, £896 from 8 screens I Saw The Devil, £876 from 1 screen + £510 previews Shadow, 2 screens, £714 Science fiction and fantasy Action and adventure Kenneth Branagh Charles Gant guardian.co.uk