Skyfall climbs back to the top of the UK box office chart

In its sixth weekend of release, Skyfallovertook The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 to return to the top of the UK box office with £2.28m for a grand total of £93.77m at the close of play on Sunday. 007's latest adventure has subsequently surpassed James Cameron's Avatar to become the highest-grossing film of all-time here in the UK with £94,277,162 after just 40 days in play. At this rate, Skyfall looks set to become the first film to crack £100m on these shores and could go on to top $1 billion globally, which would make it only the fourteenth release to do so (and the third this year after The Avengers andThe Dark Knight Rises).

Despite being knocked down into second, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 also broke a record of its own, with a three-week take of £31.37m setting a franchise high. The final instalment in the vampire romance series has also become the sixth film to top £30m in the UK this year after The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Skyfall and Ted.

In third place is the first of three newcomers, with the CG animated adventure Rise of the Guardians opening with a decent enough £1,968,984 and knocking Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! and Silver Linings Playbook down one spot apiece to fourth and fifth respectively. Mike Newell's Great Expectations underperformed in sixth, pulling in just £544,636 in its opening weekend, although it wasn't quite as bad as the returns for fellow new releases Alex Cross (£226,780) and Trouble with the Curve (£41,316), neither of which managed to make an impact in the chart.

In seventh place is another new arrival, the Bollywood neo-noir thriller Talaash, which debuted with an impressive £389,522 from just 79 screens. Ben Affleck's Argoheld firm in eighth, while cop thriller End of Watch fell two places to ninth, leaving the animated sequel Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted to round out the chart in tenth in its seventh weekend.