The winner: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Despite a strong challenge from Instant Family, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part hung on at the top, with weekend takings of £2.47m. The animated sequel declined by a reasonable 38% from its opening session, and stands at £7.41m after 10 days.

With most schools on half-term, the Lego movie should enjoy strong business this week. It faces competition from DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which managed £1.65m at the weekend. By releasing a week earlier, the Viking adventure has built up a higher total, £11.5m, and will probably retain a lead over its Lego rival at the end of the films’ runs.

The runner-up: Instant Family

Boosted by previews totalling £485,000 and with takings just below £2.47m, Instant Family almost pipped The Lego Movie 2. Less than £3,000 separated the two films, although Instant Family had the benefit of its previews tally.

The film represents a change of tone for Sean Anders who had writing and/or directing credits on Sex Drive, We’re the Millers, Horrible Bosses 2 and both Daddy’s Home films. Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne star as a married couple who adopt a set of young siblings. The comedy-drama is inspired by the experiences of Anders and his wife, who themselves adopted three children.

Instant Family opened in the US in November, beginning with $14.5m on its way to $67m. Not counting previews, the UK debut number is £1.95m – by industry rule of thumb, that’s ahead of the UK equivalent of the US opening figure (which would be £1.45m). Instant Family has a 12A certificate, and might hold up reasonably well during the half-term holiday.

The disappointment: The Kid Who Would Be King

Landing in seventh place, family adventure The Kid Who Would Be King struggled to define its niche. Unlike the Lego or Dragon films, the live-action quest tale doesn’t benefit from a strong recognition factor – unless you count the King Arthur legend, on which the story draws. Director Joe Cornish previously made Attack the Block, which had a distinctly different audience skew.

The Kid Who Would Be King began with an uninspiring £667,000, including modest previews. Attack the Block began with £837,000 (£1.13m, including previews) in May 2011. Cornish has enjoyed bigger success as a screenwriter, with credits on Ant-Man and The Adventures of Tintin.

The bounce back: The Favourite

Seven wins at the Bafta film awards, including best actress, helped The Favourite to a strong result at the weekend. Returning to the Top 10, it saw box office rise by 14% from the previous session. Total after seven weeks is £15.3m, which puts it just ahead of the lifetime tally for one of 2018’s big awards-season winners, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

The Favourite faced competition from other awards-friendly releases, Green Book and If Beale Street Could Talk – the latter boosted by its expansion from 52 to 339 cinemas. Below The Favourite in the chart are Mary Queen of Scots, Vice, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Stan & Ollie, All Is True, Boy Erased, Beautiful Boy and Colette. Also in the mix is A Private War, starring Rosamund Pike as fearless war reporter Marie Colvin. The biographical drama began with a decent £103,000 from 74 sites (£223,000, including previews).

The market

Worryingly, the UK market is down on the equivalent session from 2018 for the sixth weekend in a row. Takings are 59% down on the same weekend a year ago – predictably, given that the big new release on that occasion was Marvel’s Black Panther. Salvation does not appear to be immediately at hand: the major releases this weekend include Liam Neeson crime thriller Cold Pursuit (which has grossed $21m in the US in 10 days) and Felicity Jones as US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in biographical drama On the Basis of Sex. Neeson’s recent race-attack remarks may be considered unhelpful.

Top 10 films, 15-17 February

1. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, £2,472,489 from 652 sites. Total: £7,410,895 (two weeks)

2. Instant Family, £2,469,853 from 536 sites (new)

3. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, £1,649,759 from 646 sites. Total: £11,498,639 (three weeks)

4. Alita: Battle Angel, £1,417,674 from 537 sites. Total: £5,709,583 (two weeks)

5. Green Book, £740,086 from 535 sites. Total: £5,134,760 (three weeks)

6. Happy Death Day 2U, £735,454 from 436 sites (new)

7. The Kid Who Would Be King, £666,749 from 491 sites (new)

8. If Beale Street Could Talk, £368,796 from 339 sites. Total: £818,825 (two weeks)

9. Glass, £311,937 from 306 sites. Total: £10,289,146 (five weeks)

10. The Favourite, £283,702 from 301 sites. Total: £15,264,399 (seven weeks)

Other openers

Gully Boy, £267,574 (including £32,095 previews) from 66 sites

A Private War, £223,438 (including £119,952 previews) from 74 sites

Planeta Singli 3, £197,243 (including £45,726 previews) from 141 sites

Kala Shah Kala, £39,686 from 15 sites

Jellyfish, £11,505 from nine sites

The Lady Eve, £10,101 from four sites (reissue)

Fall in Love at First Kiss, £8,086 from 13 sites

Mektoub, My Love, £3,624 from eight sites

9: Nine, £3,258 from nine sites

Naughty Grandma 2, £3,092 from six sites

Piercing, £349 from two sites

• Thanks to Comscore. All figures relate to takings in UK and Ireland cinemas.