Gromit film is UK box office hit

Wallace and Gromit's first movie took two years to animate

Wallace and Gromit's first feature film took £9.4m at the UK box office in its opening weekend.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit's success in the UK follows its US success, where the film has taken $33m (£18.6m) since its release there on 7 October.

The UK weekend figure includes £2.9m of paid previews.

The film was released on Friday, four days after a fire destroyed hundreds of props used by the film's makers, Oscar-winning Aardman Animations.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit now holds the clay-mation film UK box office record for an opening weekend.

Film success

But it is well behind Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's record for a British-produced movie.

The third Potter film took £23.9m in its opening three days and preview screenings in May 2004, according to figures compiled by trade magazine Screen International.

The latest Aardman film sees Wallace and faithful dog Gromit set out to discover the mystery behind the garden saboteur plaguing their village and threatening the annual giant vegetable growing contest.

It was knocked off its US top spot this week by the remake of horror movie The Fog.