Director: Nick Moore
Cast: Theo Stevenson, Richard E. Grant, Anjelica Huston, Noel Fielding, Scarlett Stitt, David Schneider, Ross Marron, Parminder Nagra
 Certificate: U
Trailer

It's not fair. That's what Henry would say if he saw this movie. But then Horrid Henry (Stevenson) says that about everything. Life's not fair. School's not fair. His parents aren't fair. But adapting Francesca Simon's widely-loved books into a film with little sense and even fewer laughs? That's really not fair.

X-Men: First Class hit first place at the UK Box Office with an opening of £5.4m. 

That sounds pretty groovy for a 60s-set mutant prequel, but it's actually the weakest of the franchise since the original X-Men back in 2000. Arriving without any audience awareness of the series, Bryan Singer's comic book movie opened on £4.8m - Fox would have been hoping for slightly more evolved figures by now.

With the other X-Men films taking between £6m and £7m on their debuts, Matthew Vaughn's excellent blockbuster is quite a way behind. Still, it has far more positive buzz than Brett Ratner's X-Men 3 or 2009's Wolverine outing, which may keep its powers strong enough to claw together a stronger total.

First Class almost took second place in the UK Top Ten thanks to The Hangover II. Even with a 15 certificate and a lot of backlash, Todd Phillips' sequel, which took just under £4m in its second weekend, has already passed the £20m barrier. 

That's a horrendously high amount for a 2D comedy - in fact, it's earned more than three times the £7.7m The Hangover had totalled up over two weeks in 2009. Feel free to bash your head against a brick wall at any point in the next seven days.

The Hangover: Part II hung over the UK Box Office this weekend, with a headache-inducing total of £10.4m.

That's a scarily high amount for Todd Phillips' offensively unfunny sequel. It's triple the amount of the first film, which took £3.2m on its opening weekend. That's the kind of figure you normally expect from a comedy (Paul opened earlier this year with a very strong £5.5m including previews), so £10.4m will be making Warner Bros very happy. Everyone else, of course, will just be dismayed.

Not even Jack Sparrow could hold it off the UK Top Ten top spot. Pirates of the Caribbean 4, which was considered to be doing well last week, earned half The Hangover 2's amount at number two, pillaging its way to a hoard of £4.7m.

That's a drop of around 40%, which gives it a large running total (just under £20m) but leaves it quite a way behind the last few in the franchise - Pirates 2 had £26.7m after two weeks in cinemas. With 567 and 469 screens respectively, though, Pirates 4 and The Hangover 2 will be serious competitors against X-Men: First Class this weekend.

With all the blockbuster action and 15-rated comedy on offer, parents with younger children have little other choice than Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. Which explains why Fox's sequel got almost £1.5m over the weekend - a great result given the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid debuted with £600k odd. 

Disney will be looking to take family audiences away from X-Men and Thor with Jack Sparrow, but the only other half-term option is Rio, which has been around for way too long already. Greg Hefley hung around for 5 weeks last year to chalk up a total of £2.5m, so Wimpy Kid 2 will be expecting a nice healthy run - at least until Kung Fu Panda 2 bounces into multiplexes (the previews this week have had a very strong response).

The rest of the UK Top Ten remains largely unchanged, as Fast Five continues to race towards a cumulative gross of £20m. Attack the Block, meanwhile, dropped 60% down at number nine, and will inevitably lose quite a few screens to Marvel's mutants and Dreamworks' panda. Bare sad, innit, blud.

Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is back in cinemas in time for half-term this week. Not wanting to skimp on the family-friendly content, I mugged a small child on the way home from school last night and stole this exclusive extract from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid:

 

 

 

 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 is in cinemas this week. It features neither benders nor buns. Head this way for a full Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 review.

 

Director: David Bowers
Cast: Zachary Gordon, Devon Bostick, Robert Capron, Steve Zahn, Rachael Harris
Certificate: U
Trailers

For those unfamiliar with Jeff Kinney's cartoon books, Diary of Wimpy Kid sounds like a film about a series of trips to your local fast food restaurant. But there's not a Bender in a Bun in sight here - this sequel's humour works on a simpler level, the kind that an 8 year old can see without blushing. And that's why parents should take them to see it. There's no story to follow, but Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is innocently silly enough to make even the grumpiest adult chuckle.