'12 Years A Slave' beats 'American Hustle' at UK box office

Slavery drama "12 Years A Slave" has been appreciated by movie aficionados so much that in its debut weekend in Britain it has topped the box office.

Directed by Steve McQueen, the Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender starrer earned 2.5 million pounds and won the first place while director David O. Russell's crime comedy-drama "American Hustle" is at number two, reports digitalspy.co.uk.

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" has slipped to number three in its fifth week on general release, while "Frozen" and "Last Vegas" are at number four and five respectively.

This week sees the release of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Wolf of Wall Street" and horror movie "Devil's Due", with both expected to make an impact on the chart.

The UK box office top 10 films are:

1. "12 Years a Slave" - 2,511,349 pounds

2. "American Hustle" - 1,938,805 pounds

3. "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" - 1,504,554 pounds

4. "Frozen" - 1,314,153 pounds

5. "Last Vegas" - 1,293,299 pounds

6. "The Railway Man" - 1,230,483 pounds

7. "Delivery Man" - 1,102,433 pounds

8. "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" - 783,624 pounds

9. "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" - 755,719 pounds

10. "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones" - 502,235 pounds