Cruise Mission tops UK box office

Tom Cruise has now played secret agent Ethan Hunt three times

Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible III was the most popular film in the UK and Ireland over the weekend, taking £5.3m in its first four days on release.

The third instalment in the spy series outperformed both its predecessors - though it did not open as strongly as Cruise's last hit, War of the Worlds.

Steven Spielberg's film took £8.6m in its opening weekend in July 2005.

Romantic comedy Confetti was the only other new entry in this week's Top 10, entering the chart in second place.

Starring Martin Freeman from BBC sitcom The Office, the film took £635,072 between Friday and Sunday.

Last week's number one, animated sequel Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, dropped to three but is 2006's most successful film to date with total takings of £27.8m.

Cruise's action adventure had a better opening than both 1996's Mission: Impossible, which made £4.2m, and 2000's Mission: Impossible II, with £4.6m.

In the US and Canada, however, the film has been deemed a disappointment in some quarters after making $48m (£26m) in its first three days on release.