Shrek trumps Iron Man at box office

The giant green oaf may be making his (supposed) final bow with Shrek Forever After, but he’s proving more popular than ever, his (supposed) last hurrah having opened stateside this weekend to the ching of $72m and that coveted number one spot.

Early estimates show Shrek and co leapt straight to the top of the pile - though their initial haul pales in comparison to the openings of Shrek 2 and 3 , which both took more than $100m in their first few days.

It’s also the lowest opening for the franchise since the first flick took a meagre $48m in its first weekend. Still, that $72m was enough to strike Iron Man 2 from the top spot, the superhero sequel dropping to second place with a diminished take of $27m.

Robin Hood ransacked just $18m and slipped to third place, while Letters To Juliet and Just Wright both slid a place each into fourth and fifth with $9m and $4.5m respectively.

Biggest surprise came in the form of number six MacGruber (above), which bellyflopped onto the charts with a gob-smacking opening of just $4m - despite a stellar cast of Saturday Night Live regulars and generally warm(ish) reviews.

Other SNL alumnus Tina Fey proved to be the real box office draw, her Date Night immovable in seventh place with $3m (after seven weeks in the top ten), while A Nightmare On Elm Street ($2.5m), How To Train Your Dragon ($2m) and The Back-Up Plan ($1m) filled out of the rest of the top ten.

So has Shrek really belched his last? We imagine that fate is still yet to be officially decided - especially if he turns out to be a snowballer like Dragon (now in the top ten for nine whole weeks). Can Prince Of Persia knock the green one off the number one spot on Friday...?

What did you see this weekend?