Gravity tops US box office on its opening weekend

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock’s new movie Gravity has shot straight to the top of the US box office in its opening weekend.

According to early estimates, Gravity took $55.55 million over the weekend, making it the biggest October opening since records began.

The figure also ensured it was the biggest opening for a film starring Sandra Bullock or George Clooney.

Gravity, set almost entirely in space, is directed by Alfonso Cuaron.

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock play an astronaut and a medical engineer who work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.

Last week’s number one, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, dropped into second slot with $21.5 million.

Based on a children’s book, the first film – Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs – was a breakout hit for Sony Animation in 2009.

The sequel is an original story, in which inventor Flint Lockwood must save the day after one of his inventions malfunctions, creating food-animal creatures, or animals made of food, that overtake the region of Swallow Falls.

Runner Runner, starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake, opened in third place taking just $7.6 million.

The crime thriller follows Justin Timberlake as a graduate student who goes to Costa Rica to confront an online gambling tycoon played by Ben Affleck, who swindles him.

Former number one Prisoners, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman, slipped from second place to fourth.

Formula One movie Rush, which depicts the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, took fifth spot.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, Don Jon, was next in sixth place.

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