UK Box Office 2 - 4 August 2013

For the first time since 18 February 2011, the top seven films all grossed over £1m at the weekend’s box office, even when previews are removed.

Family animation The Smurfs 2 came out on top with £3.2m, £1.5m of that came from Wednesday and Thursday previews. That’s a bit lower than the first Smurfs film’s £3.8m opening in August 2011 (including £1.5m previews) and that film went on to a final total of £17.4m.

Buddy cop comedy The Heat opened in second spot with £2.5m (including £910k from previews). All the marketing for the film has made clear that the film is from the director of Bridesmaids and stars Melissa McCarthy who made her name in that film. Bridesmaids opened with £3.4m (including £1m in previews) in 2011 but experienced such strong word of mouth it finished on £23m. It’s highly unlikely The Heat will do the same, but £2.5m is still a solid start.

The biggest performer from Friday to Sunday was The Conjuring, which opened in third place with £2.2m. That’s a great result for a horror and a better start than recent horror hits Sinister and Insidious, which both opened with £1.4m.

Last week’s number one, The Wolverine, fell to fourth with £1.8m and now has a cume of £9.5m after 11 days on release.

Monsters University completed the top five, experiencing its first big drop of 44% to £1.8m. The Pixar hit now has a cume of £20.8m.

On a weekend when there were five major new releases, the other new entries were RED 2 in seventh with £1m and Only God Forgives in ninth with £466k (including £10k from previews).

One final shout out to Now You See Me, which crossed the £10m mark on its fifth weekend.

Overall, the top 15 was up 16% from last weekend but down 16% from the same weekend last year when Ted was unleashed on unsuspecting cinemagoers.

In the US, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg action thriller, 2 Guns, opened with $27.4m and the audience was slightly female skewed (51%) and 77% were over the age of 25.

The Wolverine fell one place to second with $21.7m, which is a drop of 59% and after 10 days, has grossed $95m. In third place The Smurfs 2 opened with $18.2m, which is far lower than the first Smurfs film's $35.6m three-day start in 2011.

The Conjuring was in fourth spot falling 39% to $13.7m, which is another strong hold for a horror. It now has a fantastic cume of $108.6m.

Despicable Me 2 completed out the top five with $10.4m and a mammoth cume of $326.7m.