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.

In an unusual move this week, and maybe due to little in the way of new releases, Ron Howards Rush moves 1 place UP to the top of the box office chart.

Taking £1.3 million from the weekend Rush takes over at the top, simply swapping places with last weeks top film Insidious Chapter 2.

There was little in the way of new films, the biggest of which is the critically panned film Diana, about the life of the late Princess which landed at 5 with a small take of $pound;600,000.

A small side note, the latest Grand Theft Auto Game was released last Monday which may have kept the young and middle aged men from cinemas, as reflected in the new releases.

One year ago ParaNorman was still at the top with Killing them softly a way behind at 2 being the highest new film.

Five years ago Tropic Thunder was the top film new film of the week smashing the previous weeks number 1, Pinapple Express, down to 4.

Ten years ago the remake of The Italian Job was at the highest new film of the week entering at the top and knocking Calendar Girls down to 2.

And fifteen years ago there was no shifting Saving Private Ryan from the top although highest new film of the week Lethal Weapon 4 had a good go and came within a whisker, it landed at 2.