The Incredibles flies back to top spot

LONDON - The animated adventures of a family of undercover superheroes has flown back to the number one spot on the UK film charts after slipping into third position.

"The Incredibles", a computer animated movie about the Parr family, raked in a mammoth £1.29 million ($3.4 m) over the New Year weekend, bringing its total gross to £28.6 million, Screen International said on Tuesday.

The grim children's movie "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" starring comedian Jim Carrey as the evil Count Olaf held onto second after three weeks in the charts and so far grossing £9 million for United International Pictures.

The big hit of the weekend was Nicholas Cage's "National Treasure", an action-adventure film about a treasure hunter looking for a war chest, which climbed one spot to third, selling £1.2 million worth of tickets over the weekend.

The adventure caper "Without a Paddle" premiered in fourth position, making nearly £595,000, while last week's number one, the animated family film "The Polar Express", fell to fifth, selling tickets worth just over £594,000.

"The Phantom of the Opera", a US remake of Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous West End Musical, held onto sixth while the action-romance film "House of Flying Daggers", starring Chinese beauty Ziyi Zhang, slipped two spots to number seven.

The critically panned but commercially popular "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason", moved to eighth after eights weeks in the charts, taking the total gross for the United International Pictures release to over £35 million, while "Blade: Trinity", starring Hollywood heavyweight Wesley Snipes dropped to nine.

Rounding out the top 10 was "Christmas with the Kranks", starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, which after five weeks in the charts has grossed £3.84 million for Sony Pictures.

- REUTERS