The Last Jedi swooped in to No 1, while Paddington 2 becomes the sixth-biggest hit of the year. Plus, the Top 20 films at the box office in 2017

The winner: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

At the start of the year, UK cinema owners agreed that the biggest film of 2017 would likely be one released in the final weeks: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The only question was: how big? Star Wars: The Force Awakens remains the biggest film of all time at the UK box office, overtaking Skyfall (£103m) with a stonking £123m. Could the sequel match up?

Star Wars: The Last Jedi went into 723 UK and Irish cinemas, the widest release for a film. Opening weekend is a very robust £20.3m, the biggest of 2017, overtaking Beauty and the Beast (£19.7m). Including Thursday, The Last Jedi’s number rose to a four-day £28m. In comparison, The Force Awakens debuted with £24.3m in three days and £34m in four days. The Last Jedi is running either 16% or 18% behind its predecessor, depending on whether you compare the three-day or four-day numbers.

There had been speculation that The Last Jedi could end up even bigger than The Force Awakens, though this overlooks the fact that 2015’s The Force Awakens was the first new Star Wars film in 10 years, and fan appetite was huge. The Last Jedi is the third Star Wars film in the space of two years, following last year’s Rogue One.

The Last Jedi’s £20.3m three-day opening number is the third-biggest of all time in the UK, behind The Force Awakens and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (£23.7m). Spectre delivered a three-day £20.0m, although a more generous preview strategy pushed its overall opening number to £41.3m. Skyfall began with £20.2m and no previews.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Still bearish … Paddington 2.

The runner-up: Paddington 2

With Christmas looming, and schools already beginning to break up for the festive season, families are now in holiday mode. The transition helped Paddington 2 achieve a relatively slim decline at the UK box office, down just 20% from the previous session. Total after six weeks is £31.4m, making the bear adventure the sixth biggest hit of the year so far (see the Top 20 chart for 2017, below.) Cinemas will now be banking on robust traffic for Paddington 2 all the way through to the end of the school holidays in early January. The original Paddington film ended up on £37.9m.

The market

Thanks to the arrival of The Last Jedi, the market overall is 437% up on the previous session (which was, admittedly, the weakest for box office in more than four years), and 43% up on the equivalent weekend from 2016, which greeted the arrival of Rogue One. Box office for January-to-November was 4% up on 2016 levels, and a strong finish to 2017, after a weak early December, should see the lead maintained. Yet to come are animation Ferdinand (which effectively arrived in cinemas on Saturday but has not officially opened), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Pitch Perfect 3 and Hugh Jackman musical The Greatest Showman.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Breakout hit … Dunkirk, starring Tom Hardy. Photograph: Bros/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock

2017: the year in review

Despite the tales of gloom about the US box office this summer, the UK has delivered another strong year in 2017, led by breakout hits Beauty and the Beast (£72.4m) and Dunkirk (£56.7m). Beauty and the Beast is bigger than 2016’s biggest hit, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi will almost certainly likewise end up bigger. The wealth has also been spread a little more widely, with 20 films achieving at least £20m in box office, compared with only 17 in 2016. Films performing above expectations include It, Spider-Man: Homecoming and La La Land – all taking more than £30m.

Wonder Woman, with $413m, is the second-biggest hit of the year at the US box office, behind only Beauty and the Beast ($504m). In the UK, Wonder Woman ranks only 19th for the year, with £22.2m. Similarly, Justice League ranks 11th for the year in the US and only 22nd in the UK. The star performer in the UK relative to the US is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the locally relevant Dunkirk, which ranks only 12th for the year in North America. Paddington 2 has yet to be released in the US.

Play Video 2:26 Watch the trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi - video

Top 10 films, 15-17 December

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi, £28,010,841 from 723 sites (new)

2. Paddington 2, £1,357,273 from 631 sites. Total: £31,365,641 (six weeks)

3. Daddy’s Home 2, £1,032,977 from 501 sites. Total: £11,393,266 (four weeks)

4. Wonder, £467,987 from 486 sites. Total: £3,513,838 (three weeks)

5. Justice League, £222,699 from 304 sites. Total: £17,214,315 (five weeks)

6. Murder on the Orient Express, £196,186 from 274 sites. Total: £23,541,083 (seven weeks)

7. The Disaster Artist, £118,044 from 193 sites. Total: £1,035,880 (three weeks)

8. A Bad Moms Christmas, £97,840 from 167 sites. Total: £8,121,794 (seven weeks)

9. The Star, £93,775 from 167 sites. Total: £717,192 (four weeks)

10. Thor: Ragnarok, £92,665 from 156 sites. Total: £30,936,228 (eight weeks)

Other openers

Mountain, £41,813 (including £29,059 previews) from 15 sites

Youth, £11,226 from 10 sites

Mountains May Depart, £4,128 from six sites

The Prince of Nothingwood, £3,353 from 15 sites

Hard Kaur, £2,375 from five sites

Shot Caller, £1,090 from three sites

Bingo: The King of the Mornings, £257 from six sites

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kevin Kline and Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast. Photograph: Allstar/Wal Disney Pictures

Top 20 films in the UK in 2017

1. Beauty and the Beast, £72.43m

2. Dunkirk, £56.65m*

3. Despicable Me 3, £47.70m

4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, £41.00m

5. It, £32.34m

6. Paddington 2, £31.37m*

7. Thor: Ragnarok, £30.94m*

8. Spider-Man: Homecoming, £30.48m

9. La La Land, £30.42m

10. Fast & Furious 8, £29.63m

11. Sing, £29.17m

12. The Boss Baby, £29.11m

13. Star Wars: The Last Jedi, £28.01m*

14. The Lego Batman Movie, £27.43m

15. Kingsman: The Golden Circle, £24.88m

16. Logan, £23.87m

17. Murder on the Orient Express, £23.54m*

18. Fifty Shades Darker, £23.08m

19. Wonder Woman, £22.18m

20. War for the Planet of the Apes, £20.76m

Grosses to 17 December.

* Still on release.

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