War Horse charges to top of UK box office chart

Jeremy Irvine stars as Albert, whose beloved horse, Joey, is sold to the cavalry

Steven Spielberg's War Horse has galloped to the top of the UK and Ireland box office chart in its opening weekend.

The big-screen adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's book took £3.94m, more than double its closest rival, Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows fell one spot to three in its fifth week.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol ended its three-week reign at the top, falling three places to four.

The Hollywood re-imagining of Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo completed a strong top 5, where all the films took more than £1 million each.

Sci-fi horror film The Darkest Hour was the highest new entry in the chart at six, while Golden Globe-winning The Artist rose one place to seven.

The silent film averaged £6,148 at the 112 cinemas it was shown at. Comparatively, The Iron Lady took an average £3,238 across 460 screens.

Animated films Alvin and Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Puss In Boots slipped down the chart to eight and nine.

While sex-addiction film Shame, starring Michael Fassbender, entered the chart at 10 with £535,288 - averaging £4,696 across 114 screens.