Return of the King tops box office for fourth week

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has remained at the top of the UK and Irish box offices this weekend, despite the opening of Tom Cruise's latest movie, The Last Samurai.

The final part of Peter Jackson's LoTR trilogy took £3.71 million this weekend - despite having opened back on December 17.

Cruise's story of a US Civil War veteran who is captured by the fabled Japanese warriors and falls in love with their culture came in second, netting £2.73 million.

The Last Samurai pushed the latest adaptation of JM Barrie's Peter Pan down to number three in the chart, while Love, Actually hung in at number four.

Oscar-tipped Bill Murray comedy Lost in Translation squeezed in to the box office chart at number five, taking £797,000.

Cruise can perhaps take some comfort from being the runner-up to what has truly become a movie phenomenon. The Return of the King looks set to smash box office records - it has already taken £48.2 million in the UK and Ireland, and an astonishing $312.3 million (£169 million) in the US and Canada.