Arnie obliterates film rivals

This is the first new Terminator film for 12 years

The new Terminator film has emerged victorious in its battle with two other new sequels at the top of the UK and Ireland box office chart.

T3: Rise of the Machines took £6m in its first three days - four times the total racked up by its nearest rival, Legally Blonde 2.

In third place was Spy Kids 3-D, which earned almost £1m.

T3 is the first new Terminator film for 12 years and sees the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger, 56, who fights the first female "Terminatrix".

BIGGEST UK OPENINGS OF 2003 Matrix Reloaded - £12.2m Bruce Almighty - £7.3m X2 - £7m T3 - £6m

UK fans showed they had the appetite for another instalment at the film's première in July, when 5,000 people cheered Schwarzenegger in London's Leicester Square.

T3 has already taken more than $140m (£87m) in the United States.

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, which sees Reese Witherspoon reprise her role as law student Elle, took £1.5m in the UK and Ireland between Friday and Sunday.

Last week's number one, The Hulk, was pushed to number five, with Bruce Almighty above it at four.