Christopher Nolan’s war drama is still going strong in its fourth week, while the sequel to the animated comedy barely cracks the top 10

The winner: Dunkirk

Despite dropping another 43% from the previous weekend, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk holds on to the top spot in the UK for a fourth week in a row – a feat that eluded monster hits of the last year, including Beauty and the Beast and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The last film to pull it off was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in November and December 2016.

Dunkirk’s UK box office has reached £44.8m, making it the biggest hit of the summer, ahead of Despicable Me 3 (£41.6m) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (£41.0m). For the year to date, it’s beaten only by Beauty and the Beast (£72.4m). The industry is confident that Dunkirk will go north of £50m by the end of its run – about double the original projection.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lulu Wilson in Annabelle: Creation. Photograph: AP

The runner-up: Annabelle: Creation

Warner Bros has scored another solid horror opening with Annabelle: Creation. The origins story prequel took £1.96m, almost identical to the £1.94m debut of Annabelle in October 2014. The first Annabelle went on to achieve a decent £7.51m. Both Conjuring movies – which share creative DNA with the Annabelle franchise – pushed a bit past £10m in the UK. The biggest horror hit so far this year in Britain is Get Out, with £10.34m – although that film resists easy genre classification.

Third place: Atomic Blonde

Fellow debutant Atomic Blonde, the cold war-era, Berlin-set spy action film starring Charlize Theron and James McAvoy, lands in third place in the official comScore chart, with a solid £1.69m. However, that number includes takings from Wednesday and Thursday, without which it dilutes to a feebler £1.13m, putting The Emoji Movie into third place for the weekend period.

The flop: The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature

Considering the first Nut Job movie only grossed $121m at cinemas worldwide, it’s surprising that a sequel was ordered by distribution partners including Open Road for the US and Warner Bros for the UK. Presumably, the animated title was created for an attractive price, making the £4.5m UK final gross for The Nut Job a profitable proposition for Warners.

The partners may now have wished they had quit while they were ahead, at least going by the UK result for The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature. The sequel – a film few parents can have anticipated with delight – has opened in Britain with a dismal £354,000 from 525 screens, for a site average of £672. The original The Nut Job began with £667,000 in August 2014. There is always competition for the family market during the summer holiday, but it is fiercer than usual, with Despicable Me 3 still riding high in its seventh week of release. The Emoji Movie is also performing well, and Captain Underpants and Cars 3 are both right behind The Nut Job 2 in the UK chart.

The market

Thanks to the lack of commercially potent new releases, box office takings are overall 25% down on the previous session, and 18% down on the equivalent weekend from 2016, when Suicide Squad, Finding Dory and Jason Bourne dominated the marketplace. The downward trend may continue, because the big new arrival this Friday is The Dark Tower, which comes with negative buzz following its US release. Cinema bookers will be hoping that The Hitman’s Bodyguard, starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson, and YA adaptation Everything, Everything can pitch in to save the day.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Girls Trip, with Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish and Jada Pinkett Smith. Photograph: Universal Pictures

Top 10 films 11-13 August

1. Dunkirk, £2,634,839 from 677 sites. Total: £44,794,468 (four weeks)

2. Annabelle: Creation, £1,960,203 from 466 sites (new)

3. Atomic Blonde, £1,686,430 from 580 sites (new)

4. The Emoji Movie, £1,189,438 from 578 sites. Total: £6,115,971 (two weeks)

5. Despicable Me 3, £751,380 from 586 sites. Total: £41,630,395 (seven weeks)

6. Girls Trip, £747,591 from 363 sites. Total: £5,519,733 (three weeks)

7. Spider-Man: Homecoming, £517,856 from 414 sites. Total: £28,242,762 (six weeks)

8. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, £413,908 from 550 sites. Total: £3,211,172 (two weeks)

9. War for the Planet of the Apes, £408,353 from 371 sites. Total: £19,444,799 (five weeks)

10. The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature, £354,276 from 527 sites (new)

Other openers

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, £134,962 from 83 sites

A Ghost Story, £133,899 (including £15,829 previews) from 89 sites

Overdrive, £60,043 from 143 sites

Velaiilla Pattadhari 2, £53,454 from 12 sites

Tom of Finland, £16,670 from 14 sites

Le Doulos, £6,339 from six sites (reissue)

Step, £5,039 from 16 sites

The Battleship Island, £4,763 from two sites

Podhuvaga Emmanasu Thangam, £1,233 from four sites

Thanks to comScore. All figures relate to takings in UK and Ireland cinemas.