Wolf of Wall Street tops UK and Ireland box office

Leonardo DiCaprio (r) plays stockbroker Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has clawed its way to the top of the UK box office in its first week of release.

The movie, which was nominated for five Oscars last Thursday including best picture, took £4.6m over the weekend.

It pushed last week's number one, 12 Years a Slave, another leading Academy Award contender, into second place.

Seventies heist caper American Hustle, animation Frozen and Devil's Due completed the top five.

Former box office leader American Hustle, which took £1.5m in its fifth week of release, bagged 10 Oscar nods including all four acting shortlists.

Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper were all recognised for their performances in the film.

The lower end of this week's box office chart was taken up by The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug at six, Last Vegas at seven and The Railway Man - starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman - in eighth spot.

Delivery Man and space disaster movie Gravity - which also has 10 Oscar nominations - rounded out the top 10.

Gravity, starring best actress nominee Sandra Bullock alongside George Clooney, took just under £500,000 in its 11th week at cinemas.

But the Hobbit has amassed the biggest cumulative box office returns of this week's top 10, with a total haul of £41.5m.

It is followed by Frozen, on £34.1m after seven weeks, and Gravity with £28.8m.