Lording it at the box office

Lord Of The Rings took nearly five times more cash at the box office than Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone over the Christmas period, new figures reveal today.

The Tolkien epic has grossed £26million across the UK in just 11 days compared with its arch rival, which netted a little less than £6million in the 10 days after 19 December.

A spokeswoman for The Lord Of The Rings distributors, Entertainment Films, said: "These figures are especially outstanding as this was a holiday period and some of the cinemas were closed."

Warner Brothers, which is behind the Harry Potter movie, said its film took £5,915,623 over the 10-day Christmas holiday. Since its November release, however, it has grossed £54.5 million, the second highest total in UK history after Titanic at £68.9 million.

After the initial frenzy to see The Lord Of The Rings, when people were booking days in advance to see the movie, cinemagoers in London are still unlikely to be able to just walk in off the street and get a seat.

James Card, a box office attendant at the Clapham Picture House, said: "Over the Christmas period people were having to book up to three or four days in advance if they wanted to get to see The Lord Of The Rings but that demand has eased off to a certain extent now.

"You would still be very lucky indeed to just turn up and get to see it but I would say people can phone up on the morning of the performance and they will be able to get in to see the film that evening."

The Odeon group of cinemas, which is showing the film on 40 screens across the capital, advises that advance booking is necessary especially for evening and weekend performances.

The Odeon Leicester Square has taken well over £500,000 in ticket sales for Lord Of The Rings with three screenings a day plus a midnight show - and still most are selling out. The same is true at many of its suburban branches. Richard Storton, Odeon brand manager, said: "The response to The Lord of The Rings has been fantastic. We started taking advance bookings for the film on 19 November, a month before the film actually went on general release."

UCI has also noted a massive interest in the film with its branch in Greenwich, thefilmworks, having its busiest period ever - selling 32,000 tickets since the film's release.

A spokeswoman said: "We are noticing a lot of repeat visits as people return to watch it a second or even third time."

Londoners yesterday gave their Lord Of The Rings verdicts. Debbie Slater, 35, said: "I've read both books and seen both films and Lord Of The Rings is better. It's more adult and there's a lot more action." Her daughter Sacha, nine, disagreed. "I preferred Harry Potter," she said. "I liked Hermione and the school with the moving staircases."

Tom Sunderland, 21, who was seeing Lord Of The Rings for the second time, said: "The quality of the special effects in Lord Of The Rings is fantastic. I enjoyed Harry Potter but despite being three hours long I felt Lord Of The Rings kept a constant level of excitement."

Accountant Adam Crocker, 26, also voted for Lord Of The Rings. He said: "It's more of an epic and more of an adult film. Harry Potter is easier to understand for kids and as a one-off film maybe it's better. But with Lord Of The Rings you can look forward to the next two films."

Navron Ffrench, 20, said: "There was a real sense of anticipation with Lord Of The Rings. Harry Potter is a good film but Lord Of The Rings definitely gets my vote."

More film news