Russell Brand gave US cinema what for this weekend as two of his movies clinched the top two spots at the box office.

CG animated Hop held firm in first place ($21.7m) after last week's BO win, proving that holiday-centric movies (this one being timed for Easter) will always be big draws for audiences.

Meanwhile, Brand's other film ? the far more adult-oriented remake Arthur ? also came up trumps, sliding in behind Hop to bag second place and $12.6m.

Other new openers Hanna and Soul Surfer also proved popular, landing in third (with $12.3m) and fourth (with $11.1m) respectively.

Ghostly chiller Insidious rounded out the top five with $8.7m. The weekend's final newcomer, Your Highness, plonked itself down on a whoopie cushion in sixth ($9.5m), while Source Code was close behind in seventh ($9m).

Bradley Cooper thriller Limitless enjoyed another week in the top ten, settling in eighth with $5.6m, while Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2 ($4.8m) and The Lincoln Lawyer ($4.6m) both drew in audiences in ninth and tenth place. Source: www.totalfilm.com

Hop bounces its way to big box office win [4th April 2011 00:43:05]

Russell Brand's Easter-themed movie takeover proved more successful than any of us imagined it would be, as Hop this weekend became the year's biggest opening movie.

Debuting with a record-setting $38m, the fluffy family comedy beat this year's previous big earner Rango by just under $1m.

On the opposite end of the audience spectrum ? i. e. those older than five ? Duncan Jones' sophomore sci-fi Source Code also came out trumps, opening in second place with $15m.

More importantly, it confirmed that Jones is far more than a one trick pony, Source Code matching the Brit director's debut Moon for thoughtful sci-fi storytelling.

In the rest of the chart, horror Insidious (from the guys behind the first Saw) was third with $13m, last week's number one Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2 fell to fourth ($10.2m) and Bradley Cooper's Limitless rounded out the top five with $9.4m.

Last week's box office hold-overs came in the form of The Lincoln Lawyer in sixth ($7m), a struggling Sucker Punch in seventh ($6m), Rango in eighth ($7.6m) and Paul in ninth ($4.3m).

Completing the top ten was Jonathan Liebesman's divisive alien invasion flick Battle: Los Angeles, which added $3.5m to its money pot. That's a total of $78m in the US alone ? do we smell a possible franchise? Source: www.totalfilm.com

Hop teaser released [24th November 2010 01:26:29]

It looks more like Cadbury's latest TV ad, but the first teaser trailer for Russell Brand's Hop has been released online. In the grand tradition of teasers, it's got naff all to do with the actual movie - apart from featuring Brand's Easter Bunny, who plays the drums to Blur's 'Song 2'. Why? 'Cos the kids will probably have never heard that track (unless their parents are hip and down with the '90s), so they can imagine the Easter Bunny made it up. We don't know. Source: www.totalfilm.com

Russell Brand's Easter Bunny gets a poster [21st November 2010 07:09:52]

The first poster for Hop has hit the web via Facebook. The Easter Bunny movie is mostly live action (a first from Universal Pictures' Illumination Entertainment), with Brand voicing the animated rabbit. The plot sees James Marsden's slacker forced to look after the Easter Bunny and nurse him back to health after accidentally injuring him. You can check out the poster below, but this doesn't look too promising at this early stage. We'll wait for a trailer until we make a proper judgement, but there's a distinct whiff of Alvin and the Chipmunks to this (director Tim Hill was also behind that rodent atrocity). Source: www.totalfilm.com