John Carter tops UK box office Despite a disappointing opening in the US Disney's new epic film John Carter has topped the UK box office charts. The film took an estimated £2.1 million over its first weekend in the UK, pushing The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel to number two. Disney had high hopes for the blockbuster, which reportedly cost more than $250 million (£160m) to make. Set on Mars, the film is an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' science fiction Barroom novels. But the studio's hopes were dashed after box office takings were at a surprising low in the US, where it took only $30 million (£19.6 million). The film has received generally negative reviews in the US and UK, with the Telegraph's film critic Robbie Collin calling it 'old hat'. He gave it two stars and said: "[Director Andrew] Stanton has made a movie that is a technical marvel, but is also armrest-clawingly hammy and painfully dated." The total takings box office takings suggest that the film should eventually break even. David Hollis, Disney's head of distribution said: "We would have hoped for more considering the larger economics of the film." Eddie Murphy's new film A Thousand Words was another to fare disastrously and is expected to drop out of the charts next week.