Ice Age sequel tops UK box office

Ray Romano and Denis Leary provide the voices for Ice Age 2

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown has topped the UK and Ireland film chart, taking £9.77m in its first weekend on release.

The animated sequel took nearly 10 times as much as second-placed She's The Man, a new entry with £994,304.

Ice Age is the first film of 2006 to pass the $100m (£57.3m) mark in North America, where it tops the chart.

Alien Autopsy, starring TV's Ant and Dec, entered in third spot, with last week's number one Inside Man dropping to fourth place.

Since Ice Age 2 was released in the US and Canada two weeks ago, it has taken $116.4m (£66.7m).

As well as heading the US and UK charts, Ice Age 2 has topped the international box office.

Thriller drops

It took $93m (£53.3m) at cinemas outside the US and Canada over the weekend, according to Screen International.

The Ant and Dec comedy, about a spoof alien sighting, made £796,119 on its first weekend of release in the UK and Ireland.

The only other top 10 new entry was the UK-German film The Dark, which made number seven with takings of £265,084.

Sharon Stone thriller Basic Instinct 2, the critically derided sequel to the 1992 worldwide hit, dropped from sixth to tenth, with takings of just £218,670.