The was a battle at the top of the Uk box office this week between The Hitmans Bodyguard and Dunkirk and with a gap of less than £50,000 Bodyguard won.

The comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson took £1.9 million on its debut weekend to reach the top, this is the lowest opening for a film to reach number 1 since Billy Elliot The Musical Live took the top spot in September 2014.

This means that the total gross for the top 15 films is also at a low with just £10 million taken.

Falling from the top is Dunkirk, although it held on tight and in the end lost to by a narrow margin taking to second place with £1.8 million.

Dunkirk is still showing strong figures from the week and took £4 million Monday - Sunday to brings its total to nearly £50 million, it is easily the second top grossing film of 2017.

Interestingly the Monday - Sunday figures puts The Hitmans Bodyguard at number 4 with Annabelle Creation and The Emoji Movie coming second and third.

Highest grossing film on the UK box office this week is Dunkirk while the longest running film is Despicable Me 3 with 8 weeks on the chart, its currently number 6.

Historical charts

A year ago - Finding Dory Went back to the top of the box office knocking Suicide Squad to number 2 while David Brent Life On The Road was the top new film at 3.

Five years ago - After a limited launch seeing it reach number 6 then number 5 Brave reached the top when it went wide on its third week, it knocked off Ted to number 3, The Bourne Legacy was the top new film at 2.

Ten years ago - The Bourne Ultimatum was the top new film of the week at number 1, it knocked off Rush Hour 3 to number 3.

Fifteen years ago - Men In Black II remained at the top of the box office for a third weekend while the top new film was The Sum of All Fears at number 2.

Twenty years ago - Men in Black remained at the top for a third weekend while the top new film was Speed 2 Cruise Control at number 3.

Twenty five years ago - Lethal Weapon 4 was the top new film of the week making its debut at the top while Far And Away fell to number 2.

Christopher Nolan's War epic Dunkirk makes it an incredible 4 weeks at the top of the UK charts leaving Annabelle Creation to make its debut at number 2.

With a less than 50% drop in weekend grosses to £2.6 million Dunkirk has had an incredible journey so far at the box office, especially as the big money was on Annabelle taking the top spot this week.

This has brought the war dramas total gross in the UK to £ 44.7 million and it is now easily the second top grossing film of 2017, it won't get to the top as Beauty and The Beast is on £77.3 million.

The sequel and spin off series Annabelle Creation makes its debut at number 2, the film is a sequel to Annabelle but is part of the Conjuring series of films.

The aggressive marketing push has given the film a £1.9 million opening weekend, this is almost identical to the original film which went on to gross £7 million in the UK.

Also new this week is Atomic Blonde at number 3 with £8 million and The Nut Job 2 Nutty by Nature at number 10 with just over £354 thousand.

Longest run on the box office is Baby Driver which has been around for 7 weeks now while the top grossing film this week is Dunkirk.

Historical charts

A year ago - Suicide Squad remained at the top for a second weekend while the top new film was Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates right down at 5.

Five years ago - Ted stayed at the top of the box office while the top new film was Step Up 4 Miami Heat which was new at 3.

Ten years ago - Rush Hour 3 was the top new film of the week making its debut at number 1, it knocked The Simpsons Movie down to number 2.

Fifteen years ago - Men in Black II remained at the top for a second weekend with the top new film Eight Legged Freaks making its debut at 3.

Twenty years ago - Men In Black was the top film again while the top new film was Grosse Point Blank at number 4.

Twenty five years ago - Far and Away remained the top film for a second, there were no new films this week twenty five years ago!

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes holds off the challenge of Hercules, The Purge Anarchy and Earth to Echo to keep the top spot at the UK box office for another week.

Now in it's second weekend of release Dawn of the Apes easily hangs on to the top spot with a weekend take of £3.7 million, this brings it's total gross to £17 million after 10 days of release.

Highest new film of the week is Dwayne Johnson in a retelling of Hercules, an all out action film rather than historical retelling of the Greek myth it's directed by Brett Ratner.

Hercules took a gross of £1.5 million on it's opening weekend, it has a long was to go to even be one of Johnson's best films as he's been part of the Fast and Furious series and The Mummy series.

Likewise Brett Ratner has been part of the X-Men series and directed the 2 Rush Hour movies, and also directed a Hannibal Lector film, all high grossing franchises.

Hercules could sink quite fast especially with some of the new releases coming in the next few weeks which will be ultimately bigger box office hits.

There are plenty of other new releases this week in the form of - The Purge Anarchy at 3 - Earth to Echo at 6 - Kickat 8 - The House of Magic at 10

This time last year new at the top was The Wolverine based on the X-Men universe which topped on it's debut knocking Monsters University into 2nd.

Five years ago Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was still at the top in it's second week and The Proposal with Sandra Bullock was new at 2.

Ten years ago Spider-Man 2 held onto the top spot for a second week with the highest new film being Thunderbirds at 3.

Fifteen years ago it was Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace holding onto the top spot for a second week, and with nothing daring to open up in the wake of such a big film the highest new film was Hindustan Ki Kasam at 10.