Movie tops UK and US box office

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy has topped both the British and American box office in its opening weekend.

And, in what the film’s distributors acknowledge is “a delightfully improbable coincidence”; it took £4.2 million in the UK in its first five days.

42 is, of course, the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is, according to Hitchhiker creator Douglas Adams.

The movie, starring Martin Freeman and Mos Def, also defied fears its origins were ‘too English’ for the American market by taking $21.7 million over its opening weekend.

It beat the action sequel to XXX, also released last week, into third place, with Nicole Kidman’s The Interpreter into second.

Chuck Viane, of distributors Disney, said Hitchhiker’s appealed because ‘It’s totally fresh and unlike anything in the marketplace right now.’

But critics were less sure, with many reviewers saying the idea was far from fresh.

In the Sunday Times, Cosmo Landesman called it ‘stale’, saying: ‘This is one intergalactic ride only real fans of the book should bother with.’ And Anthony Quinn in the Independent wrote: ‘Seldom have I sat through a high-profile comedy that has generated so little laughter - even nervous laughter.’

Philip French in the Observer was slightly more upbeat, said it was ‘amiable enough, but only sporadically amusing’, while David Edwards in the Mirror was almost alone in drawing an unequivocal conclusion ‘a movie that everyone will love ñ not just the anoraks’.

And American critics gave similarly mixed reviews. Jack Mathews in theNew York Daily News said that the film is ‘way too goofy for all but the most thumbstruck Hitchhiker’; Gene Seymour in Newsday said ‘the movie is cuddly, cozy and companionable enough, but it cops out on the book’s cheekiness’; and Ty Burr in the Boston Globe, notes that although it is "visually playful and often good fun, it never settles on a convincing narrative shape."

Despite Hitchhiker’s box office success, Hollywood executives are alarmed that this weekend’s takings are down on average, reflecting the trend that has seen cinema visitor numbers fall by about eight per cent on last year.

Paul Dergarabedian, of box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations said: ‘It’s a pretty dismal situation right now… There just hasn't been anything to get the public excited.’

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Published: 2 May 2005