U.K. enjoys it's biggest box office weekend ever

Transformers and The Simpsons Movie both got their full nationwide release and the strong hold-overs from Harry Potter 5 and Hairspray meant that this weekend was the biggest ever in terms of box office gross in this country. The total takings was $57 million which has eclipsed the previous record held in November 2005 ($38.9 million) when the last Harry Potter movie was out along with In Her Shoes, The Constant Gardner and Wallace and Gromit (which had been out a few weeks by then). In terms of last year, this week's figures were up 178% from the exact same weekend with a massive leap of 132% from last week alone. Which was more popular in the U.K. then Homer and his family or those robots in disguise? Well it was The Simpsons of course, which took home a cool $27.6 million. The Transformers which has been absolutely hated by critics in the U.K. took home $17.7 million. Both film totals have their two day previews included. I always felt it was strange having The Simpsons and the Transformers opening on the same weekend but I'm not sure either really effected the other all that much and if anything it brought this epic feeling to the U.K, where you felt like you couldn't miss out on seeing either movie... though I probably wish I had. source - variety